US Dollar Rallies As New Fed Chair Gives Hawkish First Testimony
Economic Outlook Has Improved The US Dollar strengthened in late trading yesterday in reaction to comments made by new Fed chairman Powell during his first testimony. Perhaps the most market moving comments were those in reference to how the Fed’s economic outlook has developed since the December FOMC. Speaking during the testimony new Fed chairman Powell said […]
Q4 GDP Second Estimate: Real GDP At 2.5%
The Second Estimate for Q4 GDP, to one decimal, came in at 2.5% (2.54% to two decimal places), a decrease over 3.2% for the Q3 Third Estimate. Investing.com had a consensus of 3.0%. Here is the slightly abbreviated opening text from the Bureau of Economic Analysis news release: Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual […]
Lowe’s Q4 Earnings Miss, Sales Surpass Estimates
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW – Free Report), the home improvement retailer, came out with fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 results, wherein earnings of 74 cents a share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 88 cents and decreased 14% year over year. Management now envisions fiscal 2018 earnings in the band of $5.40-$5.50 per share. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate for […]
US Dollar Bottoming Effort Takes A Step Forward
The US Dollar (via DXY Index), sparked by new Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony, has showed signs of finally emerging from a potential bottom. Price closed above two key trend levels yesterday: the downtrend from the December 18, January 11, and now February 21 highs; as well as the descending channel top off of the […]
Inflation Has Been Contained — But Not Because Of A Liquidity Trap
Nobel laureate Paul Krugman took a victory lap on the pages of The New York Times in front of all who warned of impending runaway inflation from the Fed’s massive monetary expansion. He did more than pronounce them wrong. He (a) labeled their analyses “unprofessional derp,” (b) identified himself as one of a few who “correctly […]
Fresh Distribution
Yesterday saw sellers return with a fresh round of higher volume selling. However, the breakout moves which saw indices clear the congestion of spike highs from last week were not violated so Tuesday’s action will not as yet panicked existing longs or buyers of the February swing low to sell just yet. The only exception […]
When The Obvious Is Scary
Fed Chair Jerome Powell shook the markets by stating the obvious. Powel said that ”every participant in the FOMC submits a projection of what they feel is going to happen to the economy and also their projection for appropriate monetary policy. And at the December meeting, the median participant called for three rate increases in […]
U.S. Inflation: A Case Of High Anxiety?
There is no doubt that inflation fear has reared its ugly head early in 2018, impacting the money and bond markets in rather noteworthy fashion. Some key headline-grabbing measures, such as wages and the Consumer Price Index (CPI), have come in above consensus forecasts to start the year, fueling a case of high anxiety for the fixed income […]
Disclaiming An Inherited IRA
I know, I know – who would want to disclaim an inherited IRA, right? Well, it happens a lot more often than you think – for many reasons. An individual may disclaim an inherited IRA to keep from loading one beneficiary’s estate with too many assets. Or maybe to even things out, make it more […]
Japan And China Just Closed February On A Sour Note
Well, it was a tough day for some Asian markets. Between Jerome Powell’s “hawkish” testimony on Capitol Hill and some not-so-inspiring data out of Japan and China, conditions were ripe for a lackluster session to close out what was a truly tumultuous month. You can’t depend on this Chinese data because it’s likely distorted by […]
