USSOS John Kerry Warns Syria, Averages Tumble
Midday Market Commentary For 08-26-2013
Stocks
gave up their modest gains and turned lower as Secretary of State John
Kerry calls out the Syrian regime for using chemical weapons. Kerry
suggests "The U.S. response may be more than tough words". As I
mentioned in my midday report, 'Western interdiction into Syria could be
a 'Black Swan' of sorts and put the markets in a tailspin' and it
almost did.
By 4 pm the averages had dropped almost a half point which could be the start of something even more sinister.
What We Read Today 26 August 2013
Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.
The top of today's reading list asks
if corporate tax structure created incentives that caused the Great
Financial Crisis ........ and the last article describes how state
tax laws correlate with people and capital migration within the U.S.
Behind the Increase in Part-Time Work
by Rob Valletta and Leila Bengali - FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Part-time work spiked during the recent
recession and has stayed stubbornly high, raising concerns that elevated
part-time employment represents a 'new normal' in the labor market.
However, recent movements and current levels of part-time work are
largely within historical norms, despite increases for selected
demographic groups, such as prime-age workers with a high-school degree
or less. In that respect, the continued high incidence of part-time work
likely reflects a slow labor market recovery and does not portend
permanent changes in the proportion of part-time jobs.
Averages Trading In Narrow Channel On Low Volume
Midday Market Commentary For 08-26-2013
By 1 pm the averages had leveled out and were trading once again in tight narrow range on low volume.
Market moving news is absent for now, but
any Western interdiction into Syria could be a 'Black Swan' of sorts
and put the markets in a tailspin. For now the markets look to be
consolidating once again, but don't expect any major movements.
US Civil War Is Coming
US
Government "getting ready for civil war"; the experimental vaccines in
your dinner; and that virus on your computer - the army now linked to
systematic black ops against ordinary citizens.
August 2013 Texas Manufacturing Survey Growth Again Slips Moderately
All Federal Reserve districts which have released their August surveys are forecasting growth. A complete summary follows.
Markets Continue Melting Upwards, Correction Is Over
Opening Market Commentary For 08-26-2013
Premarkets were up ~+0.20% and actually rose some when the Durable Goods report came in really short.
Markets opened up at Friday's closing
(+0.05%) and quickly descended -0.10% and by the 15 minute mark the
averages rose to +0.10% for the large caps to ~ +0.40% for the small
caps. This may signal the 'correction' is over and we now climb up the
the next resistance about 3% above the current level.
By 10 the averages had once again fallen
-0.10% and then melted back up to +0.15% for the DOW and +0.50% for the
NASDAQ. Volume has been moderate and even except for one green spike at
the opening from the BTFDers.
Five and Ten-year Notes Are Most Active Treasury Securities
by Michael Fleming - Liberty Street Economics, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
The New York Fed has long collected
market information from its primary dealer trading counterparts and
released these data in aggregated form to the public. Until recently,
such data have only been available for broad categories of securities
(for example, Treasury bills as a group) and not for specific
securities.
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Durable Goods New Orders Crashes in July 2013
Written by Steven Hansen
The headlines say the durable goods sector crashed in July 2013. It is
really hard to spin any portion of this data as economically positive.
Read more >>
Gold and Precious Metals: News Summary 26 August 2013
Econintersect
has collected gold and precious metals stories from the past week and
lists them here to help you get ready for the coming week.
Why China May Be Manufacturing Its Economic Numbers
Written by George Leong, Profit Confidential
I'm longer-term bullish on China, yet at
the same time, when I analyze a Chinese company - especially small-cap
stocks - I often find myself wondering if the numbers are valid.
Whither U.S. Housing?
The US New Housing Market Recovery - Fact vs. Fiction
by Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner
There's been a lot of talk over the past year about the housing
'recovery.' But the fact of the matter is that in terms of new single
family housing there's no genuine recovery, but there's certainly a
bubble in prices.
Read more >>
Fed Should Taper Down Treasuries and Taper Up MBS?
Econintersectt:
Two economists presented a paper at Jackson Hole last week which is
raising quite a controversy. Arvind Krishnamurthy and Annette
Vissing-Jorgensen suggest that the reason for muted response of the
economy to the latest QE (quantitative easing) is because the assets
purchased were not optimal for economic impact.
Insider Trading 23 August 2013: Starbucks Buying
by Asif Suria
Insider
buying decreased with insiders purchasing $39.95 million of their stock
last week compared to $94.72 million in the week prior. Selling also
decreased sharply with insiders selling $742.11 million of stock last
week compared to $1.43 billion in the week prior.
Sell/Buy Ratio: The
insider Sell/Buy ratio is calculated by dividing the total insider sales
in a given week by total insider purchases that week. The adjusted ratio for last week increased to 18.57. In other words, insiders sold more than 18 times as much stock as they purchased. The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 15.14.
Infographic of the Day: How to Catch an Asteroid - NASA Mission Explained
An
audacious plan included in NASA's 2014 budget proposal would send a
robotic spacecraft out to capture an asteroid and haul it back to an
orbit around the moon for study. One of NASA's stated goals is to visit
an asteroid by the year 2025.
Offshore Wind Power Gaining Pace
by Felix Richter, Statista.com
Over the course of the past decade, the
development of offshore wind power has skyrocketed. Back in 2000, a
meagre 36 megawatts was installed around the world, a figure which has
grown rapidly ever since. By the end of 2012, the cumulative installed
capacity of offshore wind farms had reached an impressive 5,410
megawatts.
Documentary of the Week: Technology of the Future
Econintersect: The BBC
presents a discussion of exploding development of ubiquitous computing,
artificial intelligence and internet technologies which will create a
world were many human traditional functions will be completely automated
over the next very few years. This presents some challenging questions
such as how will people whose jobs are displaced by the rapid advances
"earn a living"; how will the ignorance of current political activities
tolerate the intelligence of future machine dominated commerce,
production of goods and services and personal living activities; and how
will "real lives" be effected, both positively and negatively, by
virtual existence and interaction with human-like robots.
Video follows the Read more >> jump.
