Insights
7/30/12 2:29 PM – Processing . . . Processing . . .
The computer screens of institutional traders are apparently showing the ubiquitous hourglass that means the program is still processing and unable to accept another command. There is not much news today but there is potential for plenty to sway traders later this...
7/27/12 4:08 PM – Very Nice Day for Stocks
Stocks were sharply higher today, probably on continued hopes for European Central Bank actions such as buying sovereign bonds again, something thought off the table since they quit buying bonds 4 months ago and Germany had been critical of the idea. The 2Q GDP #...
7/27/12 10:27 PM – US 2Q Economic Growth
The growth in the US 2nd quarter economy was released today and was better than many expected, though in-line with consensus. I would guessed a lower number. In addition, 1Q growth was revised upward to 2.0% from 1.9%. The 4Q GDP was revised up a lot, from 3.0% to...
7/26/12 10:22 AM – Markets Higher on European News
Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank vowed to do whatever it takes to save the Eurozone and said "it would be enough." Markets in Europe are up 2-3% while Spain is up 5%. Here in the US, where traders have been worrying about Spain, stock indexes are up...
7/25/12 4:35 PM – Breaking up the Banks
Sandy Weill, the guy that tried to build Citigroup into a financial supermarket and who is very well known on Wall St. called for the big banks to be split into deposit and lending banks on one hand and investment banks on the other. This was done before as part of...
7/23/12 3:20 PM – Spain
Spain reported today that rather than its economy growing at 0.2% for the 2Q/12 it actually shrank 0.4% for the quarter. Also, 7 more of the 17 regional governments are expected to do as Valencia has done and ask for government aid to meet regional deficits. Spain was...
7/23/12 – 3:06 PM – More Barron’s / Pomboy Insight
You may remember that I said that in 2011 the US Federal Reserve bought 61% of all newly issued US Treaury debt. Part of that was to increase demand in order to push bond prices higher and thus interest rates lower. But, the other part of that is to offset sharply...
7/23/12 2:59 PM – Has the US Really Had a Recovery?
Long-time readers know I am an avid reader of Barron's Magazine. Though the tone, especially that of editor Alan Abelson is, let's say skeptical, there is a lot of good information there. Alan has often praised Stephanie Pomboy for her economic insights and she is...
7/20/12 4:29 PM – Markets Missing Clear Sense of Direction
If you are one of those people that believe that the main reason the market went up one day or another is because of the reason TV newscaster cite, I think you'll have a hard time understanding the markets. Technical factors play a much bigger role than people think....
7/19/12 4:34 PM – Good Day for Oil and Gas
Oil and natgas were up over 2% each today. Stocks were up 0.25% as was gold. Bonds were pretty flat. I'll have some more ind-depth thoughts tomorrow that I will post here.
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