Coming Week's Top 5 Market Movers - Packed Calender and Technical Resistance
by Cliff Wachtel, FX Empire
With global equities at record highs and the post-US debt ceiling deal rally likely to be mostly spent, you would think that markets are most likely to consolidate.
Not necessarily. This week's calendar alone has an unusually high dose of potentially market moving events. A wave of belated US data releases, as well as some significant European and Chinese data, could provide volatility from all three regions.
What We Read Today 21 October 2013
Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.
The top of today's reading list discusses how non-competitve congressional districts lead Congress into gridlock ........ and the last article is about the impact of unemployment insurance on poverty.
Market Commentary: Markets Close Mixed, Blame It On Tomorrow's Jobs Report
Closing Market Commentary For 10-21-2013
The markets closed mixed today - with the talking heads blaming the market's lackluster performance on anxiety on concerns over tomorrow's jobs report.
Why Are Housing Inventories Low?
by William Hedberg and John Krainer - FRBSF Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Inventories of homes for sale have been slow to bounce back since the 2007-09 recession, despite steady house price appreciation since January 2012. One probable reason why many homeowners are not putting their homes on the market is that their properties may still be worth less than the value of their mortgages, which would leave them owing additional money after a sale. In other cases, homeowners may simply be hoping that house prices will continue to rise, allowing them to recover lost equity.
Second Day of Youth Protest in Paris
Scuffles break out between demonstrators and riot police in Paris as thousands of youths take to the streets to protest against the deportation of two students.
Market Commentary: Averages Remain Flat And Lackluster
Midday Market Commentary For 10-21-2013
Markets still sliding sideways and the volume has fallen to anemic levels.
Investors are obviously worried where Mr. Market is going to go next as the current batch of rumors and innuendos is not very good. Reality isn't very good either. Hard to predict, guess or otherwise read the tea leaves today. The markets want to go up, but it is not happening - stay tuned.
US Census Reschedules Economic Releases For the Rest of 2013
Econintersect: The government shutdown may have lasted almost 3 weeks, but US Census has rescheduled the majority of its economic releases for the remainder of 2013. The release for August 2013 Manufacturer's shipments was cancelled, and will be combined with the September report. Census will release exim prices, construction spending, and manufacturers spending this week.
Market Commentary: Markets Open Down Ease Back Up To Flat Status
Opening Market Commentary For 10-21-2013
Premarkets were flat and the markets opened the same way unsure how the 10 am US financial reports were going to come out. When the reported 'mixed' the markets did nothing and remained flat.
At the opening the volume was moderate to heavy, mixed and looking weak.
September 2013 Existing Home Sales Remain in 2013 Growth Trend Lines
Written by Steven Hansen
The headlines for existing home sales say that sales growth declined in September month-over-month. Our analysis says sales were stronger compared to last month, and overall growth remains relatively strong and in line with 2013 growth trends.
Read more >>
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Long Island Back on Track after Sandy
by Jason Bram and Rachel Keller - Liberty Street Economics, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
In late October last year, Superstorm Sandy devastated and disrupted much of the tri-state region, including a large swath of Long Island. For most of Suffolk County and inland parts of Nassau County, the disruptions were widespread but relatively short lived-they mostly involved power, transportation, and communications outages. However, the southern coast of Nassau County was particularly hard hit, and the recovery in cities like Long Beach has taken considerably longer. Overall, though, Long Island's economic rebound appears to be progressing well. In this post, we give a short overview of the Island's economy and track its performance before and after Sandy.
As Digestive Disorders Rise, Small Caps Take Charge
Written by Allen Caron
While many people deal with minor digestive troubles from time to time, more than 60 million people in the US live with more chronic digestive diseases. Millions of people are hospitalized each year as a result of these conditions, which range from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) to chronic constipation. Some gastrointestinal diseases can be addressed with lifestyle changes, but not all.
Housing Smoke and Mirrors (24) - 'Elementary'
Written by Adam Whitehead, KeySignals.com
The Sherlock Holmes theme was introduced into the Housing Smoke and Mirrors story in 'On the Contrary'. This theme has been extended to the investigation of the curious case of the various '
Acronyms' being employed by the Federal Government in its attempt to stimulate the economy with the able assistance of its loyal sidekick the Federal Reserve. This double-act was observed in Housing Smoke and Mirrors (18) - 'The Mendacity of HOPE (and HARP and HAMP)'; fiendishly expanding the Federal Housing Footprint by employing the Red-Herring of an alleged contraction in the GSE Footprint.
Read more >>
Japan: Export Growth Rate is Faltering
Econintersect: The Japanese resurgence in exports is just not continuing in
recent months. This could cause problems for the country if things do not pick up before the government's planned increase in consumption taxes scheduled to go into effect in April 2014. Exports grew 11.5% in September 2013 from the same month last year. This was decline in the growth rate from 14.6% in August and 15.6% in July. Exports to Asia showed the weakest growth while the U.S. market was the strongest.
Central Bank Cuts May Be Ending
Global Monetary Policy Rates - Sep 2013: Global rates rise for 1st time in 23 months as rates may have reached nadir
by Peter Nielsen, Central Bank News
Global monetary policy rates rose in September for the first time in almost two years in a sign that the trend toward lower interest rates may have ended as a handful of central banks in emerging markets and other countries tighten policy in response to growing inflationary pressures, in some cases fueled by currency depreciation.
Bank of America: FHFA Wants 50% More than from JP Morgan
Econintersect: The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) will seek $6 billion from the Bank of America in compensation for MBS (mortgage backed securities) the bank sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with misstated "representations and warrantees", according to a report in the Financial Times. The FHFA has suits pending against 17 banks for defrauding Fannie and Freddie. According to the FT, Bank of America is expected to have the largest dollar exposure of the 17, with 12 cases still unsettled, in addition to Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase.
If Wages Are Falling, Who Buys the Products?
by Dirk Ehnts, Econoblog101
The FT has an article about capital and labour shares of income (a.k.a. the pie) in which there is a nice little story that in three sentences sums up the big problem very nicely:
In 1958, Walter Reuther, a powerful US union leader was taken on a tour of a newly automated Ford Motor plant. 'Aren't you worried about how you're going to collect union dues from all these machines?' he was asked by a (no doubt smug) company manager.
'The thought that occurred to me,' Mr Reuther replied, 'was how are you going to sell cars to these machines?'
The Bullion Market's Big Issues, Part 2
Written by Adrian Ash, Bullion Vault
Remember when gold reserves were all the rage for central banks...?
PUTTING GOLD into your investment portfolio typically signals a lack of faith in other people. Or at the very least, a healthy question mark.
How Safe Are Hospitals?
Special Report from ProPublica
How Many Die From Medical Mistakes in U.S. Hospitals?
by Marshall Allen, ProPublica
It seems that every time researchers estimate how often a medical mistake contributes to a hospital patient's death, the numbers come out worse.
Insider Trading 18 October 2013: Adobe Systems Selling
by Asif Suria
Insider buying increased with insiders purchasing $75.98 million of their stock last week compared to $26.05 million in the week prior. Selling also increased with insiders selling $729.32 million of stock last week compared to $229.99 million 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 went up to 9.6. In other words, insiders sold almost 10 times as much stock as they purchased.The Sell/Buy ratio this week compares unfavorably with the prior week, when the ratio stood at 8.83.
Infographic of the Day: The Myth of the Successful Money Manager
The 'experts' who manage hedge funds, venture capital funds and mutual funds are not as successful as you may think. Our infographic shows how the average professional investor underperforms the market.
