March 2017 Pending Home Sales Seasonally Adjusted Index Declines
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) seasonally adjusted pending home sales index declined. Our analysis says the opposite and the rolling averages marginally improved. The quote of the day from this NAR release: … sparse inventory levels caused a pullback in pending sales in March, but activity was still strong enough to be the third […]
US Data Does Not Bode Well For US GDP; Political Worries Weigh
While markets focused on the Draghi show, and for good reasons, the US released a big bulk of data. And the data has not been that good. Durable goods orders came out at 0.7% for March, much lower than 1.5% expected. It came alongside an upwards revision from 1.7%, which did not compensate. Core orders slipped by 0.2%, worse […]
Don’t Look Now, But Something Cracked On Tuesday
One of the questions we’ve been asking for some time now is this: “when will emerging markets finally start to crack?” Indeed it was just two days ago when we penned “It’s ‘Make-Or-Break Time’ And We Could See ‘A Painful Cleanout,’” a post which (probably thanks in large part to the ambiguous title) became one […]
Splunk, Palo Alto Seen As Potential Takeover Targets For Cisco
Shares of Cisco Systems (CSCO) are on the rise after Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha double upgraded the stock to Outperform, arguing that the company’s transition toward a diversified IT player can be accelerated in an environment of tax reform. Further, the analyst sees Splunk (SPLK), ServiceNow (NOW) and Palo Alto Networks (PANW) as the […]
Hoisington Quarterly Review And Outlook, Q1 2017
Lacy Hunt and Van Hoisington kick off their Q1 “Review and Outlook” – today’s Outside the Box – with a bang, calling our attention to the fact that in 80% of the 14 Federal Reserve tightening cycles since 1945, a recession ensued, and the Fed managed to keep the Good Ship Economy off the rocks just three […]
Inventories: Another Hit To GDP Estimates For First Quarter
Wholesale inventories declined 0.1% for March while retail inventories rose 0.4% according to Advance Indicators from the Census Department. The report also shows wholesale inventories rose only 0.2% in February vs the initial report of plus 0.4%. Advance International Trade in Goods The international trade deficit was $64.8 billion in March, up $0.9 billion from $63.9 billion in […]
Raytheon Company Lifts Outlook As Q1 Earnings Beat
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN ) early Thursday posted better than expected first quarter earnings results and boosted its full-year outlook, although its 2017 EPS guidance would still likely fall short of expectations.
Today’s Stock Watch List
Today’s stock watch list Long Norfolk Southern (NSC) Long GrubHub (GRUB) Short Abbott Laboratories (ABT)
Trump’s First 100 Days And Gold
Saturday will be the 100th day of Trump’s presidency. Were these days positive for the gold market? Well, that passed quickly. And the world has not collapsed, what a relief! But jokes aside, it’s been an eventful few months since the election, especially for precious metals. As one can see in the chart below, the […]
EC AT&T Dials Up A Solid Quarter, But Competitive Threats Are Rising
AT&T (T) is one of the most tried-and-true dividend stocks in the S&P 500. It has increased its dividend for 33 years in a row. AT&T is a Dividend Aristocrat, a group of 51 stocks in the S&P 500 with 25+ consecutive years of dividend increases. AT&T recently released first-quarter earnings, and the results were […]
