Author Archive: Jeremy Parkinson
Initial Unemployment Claims Rolling Average Insignificantly Worsens. Longest Streak Of Claims Under 300,000 Since 1973
Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims The market expectations (from Bloomberg) were 265,000 to 279,000 (consensus 270,000), and the Department of Labor reported 265,000 new claims. The more important (because of the volatility in the weekly reported claims and seasonality errors in adjusting the data) 4 week moving average moved from 267,250 (reported last week as 267,500) […]
Valeant Hit My $35 Price Target; Now What?
Tuesday the Valeant VRX released preliminary unaudited Q4 financial results and it did not go well. I perused the results, saw that the 2016 revenue forecast was shy of previous estimates and assumed the stock would rise 10% as usual. By mid-morning my brokerage account had gone haywire; VRX had free fallen 45% and my […]
Big Biotech ETF Faces Key Technical Test
Those who have followed our blog for some time now know that we are big proponents of technical analysis in reading the trends of the market. This type of examination can also be applied when we are analyzing individual sectors or industries that have diverged from the conventional path of the market. Last year’s big diverging […]
Guess’ Q4 Earnings Miss Estimates, Revenues Beat
Apparel retailer Guess’, Inc. (GES – Analyst Report) reported fourth-quarter fiscal 2016 results, wherein earnings missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while revenues beat the same. Guess’ reported earnings of 57 cents per share, which declined 9.52% from the prior-year figure of 63 cents due to top-line weakness and currency headwinds. Currency impacted earnings by 19 cents. Earnings also missed the […]
S&P 500 Snapshot: A Modest Patrick’s Day Gain
Our benchmark S&P 500 opened in the shallow red and sold off to its -0.25% intraday low about 30 minutes later. It then rose steadily to its 0.94% afternoon high before some late volatility trimmed the St. Patrick’s Day gain to a more modest 0.66%. The index is down a mere 0.16% year-to-date. Its elderly […]
Dotty Confusi-Nomics And The Dollar
Quotable “There are designations, like ‘economist,’ ‘prostitute,’ or ‘consultant,’ for which additional characterization doesn’t add information.” –Nassim Taleb Commentary & Analysis Dotty confusi-nomics and the dollar. I watched America’s lead economist—Fed Chairman Janet Yellen—talking about the economy yesterday; and after she was done I was more confused than when she started—but was happy with the […]
If China Held A Normal Amount Of Reserves, Would Its Currency Be Higher Or Lower Against The Dollar?
That is the question millions are asking, or at least the question that people who talk about whether China’s government is holding down the value of its currency should be asking. Neil Irwin is on that list. In a NYT column today he argued that China is no longer holding down the value of the yuan to […]
Market Advance Does Not Result In Improved Investor Sentiment
Although the S&P 500 Index has bounced significantly higher from the February lows, the market action seems indicative of one where investors were caught on the sidelines. Even with the move higher in stocks, individual investors are indicating their skepticism about the market advance if we look at AAII’s bullish sentiment indicator. Today’s release showed bullish […]
Market Talk – March 17, 2016
The Asian markets responded quite positively to the FED’s unchanged decision yesterday with HSI and China Main trading a little over 1% higher across the board. The Exporters did not fare so well, as such, Japan closed a little lower (-0.22%) on the back of a stronger JPY (+1%). China moved the Yuan mid-point from 6.5172 […]
5 Best Basic Materials Stocks In The Market Today
The Basic Materials sector is staging a rebound after remaining in choppy waters in 2015. The sector, which encompasses a broad range of industries, is finally looking up, supported by a string of factors including relatively encouraging U.S. economic data (including gains in the labor market and construction space) and a steady recovery in oil […]
