Insights
1/31/13 11:28 AM – Israel Strikes Syria, Perhaps Iranian Facilities Too
Yesterday, Israeli airplanes struck at least one target inside Syria. Israel is concerned about two things - missiles and other military equipment that Iran ships to Syria that is often intended for Hezbollah, and the chance that Syria's cache of chemical weapons...
1/31/13 11:19 AM – Mixed Economic Data
The Chicago region ISM report was much stronger than indicated, usually a good indicator of manufacturing strength. On the other hand, weekly jobless claims were higher. I am not so much interested in weekly jobs data; it varies a lot. But, as I have often written,...
1/30/13 10:48 AM – US Economy Shrinks in 4Q
Surprise? After a stronger than expected growth of 3.1% in the 3rd quarter of 2012, the first estimate of 4Q growth showed a DROP of 0.1%. Analysts were only looking for growth of 1% but not many expected a drop. Contributers were a big drop in defense spending and...
1/24/13 10:06 – Should You Sell Apple Stock?
Yesterday, Apple did what it almost never does - disappoint analysts with its quarterly earnings report. Worse, it reported earnings no higher than the same quarter (4th quarter) as a year ago. And, unit sales of iPhones and iPads came in at the low end of...
1/22/13 11:18 AM – WSJ Article on Abortion Attitudes Survey
The Wall St. Journal did a sizeable article today on American attitudes toward abortion, yesterday being the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S. The percentage of people wanting Roe v Wade overturned was 24%....
1/22/13 10:38 AM – Inauguration Speech Portents
Several things about President Obama's inauguration day yesterday were very telling. 1. The media love affair with Pres. Obama - Our local paper gave the headline and a picture of the first couple over 80% of the first page this morning. There was actually next to no...
1/17/13 9:29 AM – Deadline for Direct Charitable Contributions from IRAs
The deadline for making a charitable contribution directly from an IRA is the end of January. The deduction would apply to your 2012 income, even though the year is over. In other words, you can still reduce your 2012 taxes. The limit is $100,000. After Feb. 1 you can...
1/14/13 1:21 PM – Emerging Markets & Inflation
US stock markets are lower today, probably on worries over the debt ceiling. European markets are mixed, while Asia, which always opens much earlier, was up nicely, following good gains last week. I think it is important to have some exposure to emerging markets like...
1/11/13 4:07 PM – Earnings Reports
Earnings reporting season kicked off this week and will run for several weeks. Earnings increases are expected to be rather tame this time, on the order of just 2.4%. I think the rise in corporate growth peaked last year, after several years of cost-cutting and a...
1/8/13 5:50 PM – Buying Gold and Silver Coins
Some clients have asked me lately about buying gold or silver coins. I think most have in mind a doomsday scenario in which the U.S. economy collapses under the weight of runaway inflation and/or excessive debt. I do not normally advise buying gold or silver coins in...
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