Headline Data Say the Economy is Solid
Markets Know Better Market reaction and direction were always going to be about the employment numbers. At first glance, the +315K from the BLS’ Payroll Survey looked “solid,” and equities rose more than 1% in Friday’s early going. But, as further analysis occurred, markets ended the day significantly in negative territory. Apparently, the details below […]
Markets Have Recovered, But Charts Look Like Niagara Falls
In January, the equities markets bounced from significantly oversold conditions at the end of December, on the hopes that a) the Fed stopped it tightening cycle in time, and b) the halt to the government shut-down occurred in time to avoid negative Q1 GDP growth. As I have stated in prior blogs, “hope” is not […]
Caution: Markets Are Forward Looking
This is the time of year to take stock of where the economy and markets stand and try to figure out what lies ahead. Markets are telling us something, and so is the underlying data. In what follows I will try to parse the signals the markets are sending, look at the data and the […]
Slower Growth, Inflation, the Fed, and End of Cycle Indicators
The U.S. economy itself appears to be doing well, but we see many end of cycle signs, including less than 4% unemployment, rising interest rates, emerging consumer inflation, a strained housing market, slowing growth worldwide, and huge instability now developing in the emerging market space. Economy Still Healthy The 0.8% rise in retail spending in […]
The Headlines Say Growth…
The headline numbers, for jobs and GDP, and most of the sentiment indexes, would lead one to conclude that the economy was robust and accelerating. Even the Fed agrees, as they upgraded their view of the economy to one now in “solid” growth mode. The reality is that much of the data was distorted by […]
2017 forecasts when Trump honeymoon ends
In this time of market exuberance and significant increases in almost every sentiment index, it is time to recognize that when reality returns, markets will correct. This coming year is going to begin with more uncertainty than is normally the case: The Trump fiscal agenda is huge, but so are the debt levels; and the Fed […]