Tag Archives: Stock Market

U.S. Economy Adds Another 204,000 Jobs in April

Thursday, 03 May 2018 05:12

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, May 2, 2018:

The booming U.S. economy added another 204,000 jobs in April, down slightly from the (revised) 228,000 jobs it created in March, but still more than forecasters predicted. Those forecasters have consistently underestimated the health of the economy and their record remains unbroken. Economists polled by Econoday expected 190,000 new jobs in April.

This is the sixth straight month of job growth over 200,000 which continues to confound observers. “The labor market continues to maintain a steady pace of strong job growth with little sign of a slowdown,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute.

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Conference Board Predicts Robust Economy for Rest of Year

Saturday, 21 April 2018 05:56

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, April 20, 2018:

The report from the independent Conference Board released on Thursday confirmed what most already know: The U.S. economy is on a tear, and there appears to be nothing on the horizon to slow it down, at least for the next six to nine months. Said its Director Ataman Ozyildirim:

The U.S. LEI [Leading Economic Index] increased in March, and while the monthly gain [was] slower than in previous months, its six-month growth rate increased further and points to solid growth in the U.S. economy for the rest of the year.

The strengths among the components of the leading index have been very [robust] over the last six months.

The LEI, which bottomed out during the Great Recession in the middle of 2009, has rocketed from 73 to

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The Best Stock Investment Tip Ever Given

Thursday, 05 April 2018 04:45

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, April 4, 2018:

Sean Williams, writing for The Motley Fool newsletter, has given his readers what he calls “the closest thing you’ll ever get to a surefire stock tip”:

Since January 1, 1950, the S&P 500 has undergone 35 corrections whereby its aggregate point value has fallen by at least 10 percent….

Here’s the key point: all 35 of those stock market corrections have been completely erased within a matter of weeks or months (and in rare cases years), by a bull market rally.

I repeat, in 35 out of 35 instances since 1950, the S&P 500 has erased any stock market corrections totaling 10 percent or higher at some point in the future.

That’s a 100 percent success rate over nearly three dozen data points.

Buying any major dip in the S&P 500 is about as close to a guarantee as you’re going to get when it comes to investing in the stock market.

An investment advisor in Colorado Springs requires that his clients promise not to turn on CNBC during the day, but instead concentrate on living life. As a result, he says, he almost never gets a call during market downturns because his clients are focused on more important things.

Other investors, however, are no doubt calling their brokers following the news that the nine-quarter winning streak in stocks came to an ignominious end in March, with the Dow losing 616 points during the first quarter of the year.

It is helpful to remember at least two things:

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Bull Market in Stocks Continues

Wednesday, 04 April 2018 05:35

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, April 3, 2018:

The 616-point decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) during the first calendar quarter of 2018 ended a nine-quarter streak of gains. During those nine quarters, the Dow rose an astonishing 8,400 points, almost half of the Dow’s 18,000-point gain since the start of the bull market in stocks in 2009.

Monday’s sharp decline of more than 600 points mid-day (the Dow ended down 450 points for the day) raised once again the question: is the bull market in stocks over?

It’s highly unlikely. From 1995 to 1997, the Dow rose 11 quarters in a row before selling off. After the down quarter that followed, the market roared back, gaining 11 percent the next quarter and climbing more than 45 percent by the end of 1999.

Yardeni Research reports that

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Tariff Reality Ignites Stocks, Affirms Dow Theory Bull Market Signal

Wednesday, 28 March 2018 05:14

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, March 27, 2018:

The rebound in stocks on Wall Street on Monday and early Tuesday that followed last week’s sell-off was triggered by the reality that Trump’s tough talk on tariffs was little more than an opening bid to get China’s attention. It did, as was noted by Trump’s Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin: “We’re having very productive conversations with them. I’m cautiously hopeful [that we can] reach an agreement.”

It helped that over the weekend investors began to understand that Trump’s threat, even if fully applied, would have very little impact on the overall economy. Part of the initial confusion was the media’s constant repetition that Trump intended “to impose at least $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports” as the Washington Post expressed it. Whether deliberate or not, the Washington Post should have said that Trump intended “to impose tariffs on at least $60 billion worth of imports, particularly imports of steel and aluminum.”

That’s a vastly different, more accurate and less concerning statement.

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Is the Federal Reserve Working Against Trump’s Reelection in 2020?

Friday, 23 March 2018 09:03

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, March 23, 2018:

English: Short-Run Phillips Curve before and a...

Short-Run Phillips Curve before and after Expansionary Policy

In politics, according to FDR, there are no coincidences. He famously said that “in politics if something happens you can be sure it was planned that way.” The announcement by Trump that he has filed for reelection in 2020 and the pronouncement by the Federal Reserve following it may just be one of those “planned” coincidences.

The pronouncement from Jerome Powell, the new head of the Fed, was, on the surface, comforting:

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313,000 New Jobs in February, Far Exceeding Expectations

Saturday, 10 March 2018 07:24

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, March 9, 2018:

Friday’s numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) were predicted a day earlier by ADP/Moody’s Analytics, which said that private payrolls in February jumped by 235,000. But few expected the BLS to report what one surprised forecaster called “unbelievably strong” new jobs numbers. Further, the Labor Department said that its jobs reports for December and January understated the reality, adjusting those two months’ reports upward by another 54,000 jobs.

The economy continues to gain strength.

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Economy’s Performance Continues to Beat Forecasts

Saturday, 03 March 2018 06:08

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, March 2, 2018:

Three more measures of how the U.S. economy is performing once again beat economists’ forecasts: consumer confidence, jobless claims, and manufacturing. Tuesday’s release by the University of Michigan of its monthly “Survey of Consumers” showed all three of its indexes notching highs not seen in years. Its Index of Consumer Sentiment (“How are you feeling about your finances today?”) hit 99.7 compared to January’s robust 96.3. That is the second-highest level since 2004, reflecting, according to the survey’s chief economist Richard Curtin, consumers’ “favorable assessments of jobs, wages, and higher after-tax pay … overall, the data signal an expected gain of 2.9% in real personal consumption expenditures during 2018.”

The forecasters in this instance nearly got it right. The consensus reported by the Wall Street Journal expected 99.5. But that’s about as close as any of them got.

The U of M’s Index of Current Economic Conditions (“How does the economy look to you from your personal perspective?”) also beat expectations,

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CNN: Democrats are Headed for Real Trouble in November

Thursday, 01 March 2018 05:58

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, February 28, 2018:

When far-left CNN, proclaimed here and elsewhere as the Communist News Network, suggests that the Democrats might be in trouble come November, one can rest assured that they are truly in deep kimchi (a Korean side dish made with fermented vegetables). Political writer for CNN Eric Bradner sounded the alarm two weeks ago:

Caught flat-footed by the suddenly increasing popularity of the GOP tax plan, leading Democrats are urging the party’s candidates to … focus their campaigns [instead] on the economy.

That’s because Trump’s tax reform law “is now seen favorably by about half of voters … as Democrats fear that their chances of claiming House and Senate majorities in November’s midterm elections are slipping.”

Slipping? How about disappearing? How would any Democrat running for reelection in November respond positively to taxpayers’ questions about why he or she didn’t vote to allow them to keep more of their income? Left-wing Priorities USA just issued a memo warning that the debate over tax reform “has been relatively one-sided recently and voters have not heard nearly as much from Democrats.”

Bradner added:

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Despite Stock Sell-off, Few See Recession

Saturday, 10 February 2018 06:53

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, February 9, 2018:

Barbara Friedberg must be feeling pretty good right about now. Last October she made “10 Bold Stock Market Predictions for 2018,” and already she is scoring five out of 10:

Value stocks will triumph;

Cash will be king;

Inflation will inch up;

Market volatility will return; and

Bonds will offer higher yields.

The jury is still out on her prediction that “the Bull Market [in stocks] will end in 2018.”

Friedberg is no lightweight. She is a former portfolio manager and has taught finance and investments at several universities. She authored a popular book in 2014, How to Get Rich Without Winning the Lottery.

Despite the mantra that stocks’ performance is often a harbinger for future economic performance, few at present agree with her about the bull market in stocks being over.

The sell-off (which appears to be continuing as this is being written) in stocks is impressive. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA, or The Dow) has lost 3,227 points since its high on January 26, or 12 percent, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has dropped by 290 points, or 10 percent, since then as well. This is into “correction” territory and should be drawing negative outlooks on the future of the U.S. economy from every quarter.

But they can’t be found. Aside from perma-bears Michael Snyder and David Stockman, few of the usual suspects can be found who agree with Friedberg. When the Wall Street Journal polled its economists, they remained adamant about the health of the economy: GDP will continue to grow and unemployment will continue to drop:

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Sorry, Inflation Worries are Not Behind the Selloff in Stocks

Thursday, 08 February 2018 06:32

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, February 7, 2018:

All manner of explanations for the recent market selloff in stocks have come out of the woodwork: the market has gotten ahead of itself; it was due for a correction anyway; it’s been 400 days since a three percent correction; and so on. The least informed is that all of a sudden there is inflation! See? The yield on the 10-year Treasury is up 80 basis points since September! That must mean there’s inflation! Couple that with the “surge” in wages just reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2.9 percent year-over-year compared to 2.2 percent reported previously) and – voila! – inflation is back. Time to take profits!

Most commentators didn’t bother to check with the Fed, specifically the Cleveland Fed and the St. Louis Fed, which report the real numbers on inflation and money supply. First:

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Treasury Advisory Committee Says U.S. Must Borrow Trillions, Sending Stocks Down

Wednesday, 07 February 2018 06:45

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, February 5, 2018:

When an obscure advisory committee announced last Wednesday that the U.S. Treasury would have to borrow billions to fund Trump’s tax reform program, the stock market pitched headlong into a selloff, dropping Thursday, Friday, and early into Monday. Before the selloff, the Dow was approaching 26,300, but by the close on Friday it had lost 760 points. The rout continued into Monday, with the Dow down more than 1,200 points from Wednesday’s high. [Note the rout continued into Tuesday but found some footing by the end of the day.]

Much handwringing by commentators blamed the selloff on various technical factors:

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Is America’s Welfare State Stifling the Economy?

Wednesday, 07 February 2018 06:28

This article was published by the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, February 5, 2018:

There were two numbers buried in Friday’s jobs report from the BLS that portend difficulty for the economy: The number unemployed remains at 6.7 million, and the labor participation rate remains stuck at 62.7 percent. In September 2015 that latter number was 62.4. In 2000 it was 67.3 percent.

How is that possible? With the unfettering of the economy through deregulation and now the recapture and reinvestment of tax dollars that were previously being directed to Washington, just about every economic indicator is green. Why aren’t these millions reentering the workforce?

There’s good news and bad news. Some of those people are leaving the workforce and retiring. Their savings, pension, profit-sharing and 401(k) plans are reflecting the performance of the stock market and consequently are allowing them to recalibrate their retirement plans: they’re retiring sooner than later.

Some of the younger cohort – age 25-54 – are going back to school to learn the skills they need for the new economy.

But others are content just to stay right where they are:

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Americans Expect Booming Economy to Continue, Says Conference Board

Thursday, 01 February 2018 06:41

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, January 31, 2018:

The Conference Board’s January survey of consumer confidence came in at 125.4, beating December’s number and outperforming predictions of economic forecasters. Additionally, December’s number had to be revised upward as the original index of 122.1 understated consumer confidence that month as well.

As a measure of the strength of the economy, the Conference Board, which has been conducting similar surveys since it was founded in 1916, established its “baseline” for its consumer confidence index at 100 in 1985. Put another way,

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Tax-Reform Ripple Effect: Hundreds of Companies Recalibrating, Raising Employee Benefits, Investing in New Projects

Saturday, 27 January 2018 06:45

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Friday, January 26, 2018:

Workers at Camp Construction, the construction giant headquartered in Houston with sites all across the southern United States, received a note along with their last paycheck. Signed by the company’s president, Roger Camp, it read:

Because of the reduction in corporate taxes we, as will all businesses, benefit from this tax cut. We believe that YOU are the reason for our success. And now that we will be giving less of our hard earned income to the federal government, we can share some of it with you.

Please look for a $500 tax cut bonus in your next payroll run.

There are now more than 240 companies who are doing the same for their employees. At current count this will brighten the paydays of more than three million workers.

And the ripple effect of the tax reform law is just starting to be felt.

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Trump Economy Making Democrats Look Increasingly Foolish

Saturday, 06 January 2018 06:12

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, January 5, 2018:

The kept media dutifully reported California Democrat Nancy Pelosi’s disgust over President Trump’s tax reform program, even though it made her look foolish. Said Pelosi, “If this goes through, kiss life on earth goodbye. The debate on health care is life/death. This is Armageddon.” This was followed by the media quoting Democrat Chuck Schumer: “Tax breaks don’t lead to job creation … [this bill is a] punch in the gut for the middle class.”

It may be a little early to tell, but at the moment the middle class is doing just fine. Life goes on; if Armageddon occurred, the media missed it. That “punch in the gut for the middle class” is about to be caused by heavier wallets, thanks to tax cuts showing up in their February paychecks.

For hundreds of thousands, that punch in the gut was immediate:

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Dow Smashes Through 25,000; to Smash Dems in November?

Friday, 05 January 2018 06:44

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, January 4, 2018:

The surprising thing about the Dow’s volcanic eruption through the 25,000 level on Thursday is that it was matched by all-time highs in other key stock market indexes such as the S&P 500 Index, the NASDAQ, and the Russell 2000. Even more surprising is that this isn’t happening in an American vacuum: Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average hit a new 26-year high, rising above 23,000 for the first time since January 1992. The Hang Seng (Hong Kong) Index just touched a new 10-year high, while major stock market indexes in New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand also set new records on Thursday.

The reasons why aren’t surprising:

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U.S. Economy’s Stunning Performance Continues to Bewilder Forecasters

Friday, 15 December 2017 06:24

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, December 14, 2017:

US Retail Sales 1992–2010

US Retail Sales 1992–2010. Threy’ve been on a tear ever since.

Economic forecasters continue to fall behind reality, as shown by the latest numbers from the Commerce Department. Forecasters predicted that November’s retail sales would increase just 0.3 percent over October. Instead, retail sales jumped an astonishing 0.8 percent. In an economy where two-thirds of economic activity is geared toward providing consumers with goods and services, that’s huge miss — on the order of a three-quarters of a billion dollar miss.

October’s numbers dumbfounded them as well:

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“Trump’s” Stock Rally Best Since 1945

Thursday, 09 November 2017 06:38

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, November 8, 2017:

Before the market opened on the day after Donald Trump won the election a year ago, futures were predicting a precipitous drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 900 points. By the close of business that day, sentiment reversed and the market closed up 250 points, to 18,500.

That was 5,000 points ago,

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U.S. Economy Continues to Surprise to the Upside

Wednesday, 01 November 2017 06:14

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, October 31, 2017:

One measure of how the U.S. economy continues to exceed expectations is the Economic Surprise Index published by Citigroup. It’s a tool that is used to measure how the economy compares to those expectations and, at the moment at least, it reflects the ebullience reported elsewhere. Any reading above zero indicates that the economy’s performance is exceeding projections. On Tuesday it hit 40 — its highest level since April.

That performance has repeatedly been reported in The New American and elsewhere, with these notable results:

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