Dismal Retail Sales Numbers Suggest Recession Likely Underway: Overall +0.0%, YoY +0.9%, Department Stores -2.2%
Economists were surprised by the dismal retail sales report this morning. That’s not surprising because economists are nearly always surprised. The Bloomberg Consensus retail sales estimate was a rise of 0.2%, but sales came in at 0.0% and the details were ugly, emphasis mine. Consumer confidence may be strong but it still is not translating to strength for […]
Market Open Ramp Ends With A Whimper As Bund Yields Suddenly Spike
Having tested down to Payrolls levels once again, German Bund yields have spiked back quickly to the highs of the day (from under 60bps to 70bps). This has sparked selling across most asset classes with US and European stocks waning quickly. Trannies are in trouble have tumbled post-open and are now -1.7% from payrolls. Bunds are crashing […]
The Reason There Has Been No Recovery In One Simple Chart
“The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy.” Will Rogers, Nov 26, 1932 “Trickle-down theory – the less than elegant metaphor that if one feeds the horse enough oats, some will pass through to the road for the sparrows.” John Kenneth Galbraith “It is […]
The Cardinal Sin: Missing Out
The greatest fear in the investment management industry is not what one might expect. It is not losing money but the fear of not making enough money when the market is moving relentlessly higher. This “fear of missing out” strikes terror into the heart of portfolio managers as clients will simply not tolerate it; it is […]
Silver Breaking Above 2015 Falling Resistance
Do you like the idea of buying low and selling higher? When it comes to something that is low in price, Silver and Silver Corp (SVM) don’t have much to brag about in the past 4-years! The chart below compares the performance of the S&P 500 to Silver and SVM over the past 4-years. […]
Oppenheimer Weighs In On Biotech Stocks: Opko Health, Inc. (OPK), OvaScience, Inc. (OVAS)
Rohit Vanjani of Oppenheimer rates stocks in the biotechnology sector and is one of the top 25 analysts rated on TipRanks. Yesterday, Vanjani made two news ratings for Opko Health (NYSE: OPK) and OvaScience (NASDAQ: OVAS). Vanjani maintained a Perform rating on Opko Health, Inc. though he did not provide a price target. The pharmaceutical and diagnostic company posted […]
OMG: Putting Jump In Interest Rates Into Perspective
During my daily radio broadcast yesterday, I received a rather “panicked” call regarding the “dramatic plunge” in his bond funds due to the recent jump in interest rates. Of course, he is not alone. Over the last few weeks the media has done its normal headline-grabbing spin by dragging out every bond “bear” they can find to discuss why this time, […]
Close To Retirement And Under-Saved, What Should You Do?
A blog post from the Wall Street Journal back in February noted that “the typical working household with a 401(k) approaching retirement had only $111,000 in a 401(k) and IRA.” There are plenty of articles floating around in the last couple of years lamenting how low retirement balances are. If $111,000 is right, that would […]
Russia Continues To Buy Gold As China Could Cause A Shake-Up This Year
After a two month pause, the Russian Central Bank has once again increased its gold holdings in March by 1 million ounces to a new total of 39.81 million ounces of gold. This is remarkable as most market spectators expected the Russians would almost be done with buying gold as its total amount of foreign […]
Retail Sales Continue To Slow In April 2015. Inflation Adjusted Sales Are OK
Retail sales were unchanged according to US Census headline data and was below expectations. We see a continued slowing of retail sales. Consider that the headline data is not inflation adjusted and prices are currently deflating making the data better than it seems (but still not excellent and still decelerating). Overall the rolling averages are […]
