Category Archive: Finance
26 July 2017 FOMC Meeting Statement: Balance Sheet Reduction To Begin Soon?
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintained the federal funds rate as expected. Additionally, no action was taken at this meeting to reduce the Federal Reserves’ balance sheet. …. For the time being, the Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in […]
Fed Balance Sheet Unwinding Expected “Relatively Soon”: Let The Debate Begin
As expected, today’s FOMC meeting came with zero surprises. In addition to its standard boilerplate about inflation, the Fed stated it would begin balance sheet normalization “relatively soon”. Here is the full Text of the FOMC Press Release. Key Snips Inflation on a 12-month basis is expected to remain somewhat below 2 percent in the near […]
FOMC Sticks To Script: Balance Sheet Unwind To Begin “Relatively Soon” And USD Retreats
The FOMC statement reads very much like the June statement. There were some minor tweaks in the first paragraph that discusses the broad economic performance since the last FOMC statement. There was little change in the assessment of inflation, which was a keen interest to investors. As in June, the Fed recognized that inflation was running […]
VIX Crashes To Record Low, Gold Spikes, Dollar Nosedives After ECB/Fed Comments
Ignoring the “relatively soon” balance sheet unwind, the dollar index is careening lower (at 14-month lows) on inflation-weaker signals from The Fed. And gold spiked back above its 200DMA ($1251)… However, stocks limped higher as VIX crashed to a record low 8.84… As Bond traders feel the short squeeze coming on…
Tootsie Roll Industries: A Very Safe Dividend King With Iconic Brands
Dividend kings, stocks with 50+ consecutive years of dividend growth, are a rare and prized collection of generally low risk income growth investments. Many of these companies have established leadership positions in the markets they serve through some combination of economies of scale, intellectual property, and customer relationships. In the case of Tootsie Roll (TR), […]
Can Amazon Be Stopped?
(Photo Credit: JouWatch) Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN): Consumer Discretionary – Internet & Catalog Retail | Reports July 27th, AMC. The Estimize consensus calls for EPS of $1.49, which is nine cents higher than Wall Street and a decrease of 21% YoY. Currently, the Estimize community is looking for sales of $37.36B which is roughly in line with […]
There’s A Hole In The Middle Of Doughnut Economics
The last 30 years have seen the demise of the Soviet Union and its administrative-command economy as well as a revolution in technology and trade that has reduced the transaction costs of using markets. Many governments around the world have recognized the reality of the power of markets, liberalizing international trade and de-nationalizing production to […]
4 ETFs To Ride On 16-Year High Consumer Confidence
After sluggish spending in recent months, consumers now appear to be optimistic as we enter into the second half of the year. This is especially true as consumer sentiment recovered to near record levels in July after falling for two consecutive months. The Consumer Confidence Index, as indicated by the Conference Board, surged to a […]
E Fed Stays Put
Earlier today, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and the FOMC decided to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged, at 1-1.25%. The two-day policy meeting also resulted with the committee announcing that they will start to normalize their massive $4.5 trillion balance sheet of Mortgage Backed Securities and US Treasuries “relatively soon.” Both “decisions” seemed to […]
Millennials Are Killing Motorcycles Too
There’s nothing sadder than a new Harley-Davidson “hog” coming off the assembly line… Only to be greeted by skeptical looks from millennials wondering: “Yo, where’s the USB port on this thing, dude?” I’m joking, but America’s premier motorcycle maker recently received an up-close look at the dangers of not paying close enough attention to the […]
