Why Diminishing Banks' Earnings No Big Surprise?
Banks' Earnings Disappoint But Here's Why That Was (Or Should Have Been) No Surprise
by Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner
The Fox Business video after the Read more >> jump reports on the disappointing bank earnings reported in early October.
What We Read Today 23 October 2013
Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.
The top of today's reading list is an
NBER working paper that finds predatory lending increased defaults in
the sub-prime crisis ........ and the last article has Nobel
Laureate warning of a new housing bubble.
Market Commentary: Depressed Markets Slide Sideways Looking Very Tired
Closing Market Commentary For 10-23-2013
Averages limped along sideways during the
entire session today with somewhat even volume unlike sessions where
the volume drops during the middle of the day to faltering levels.
By the closing bell the averages looked
weak, tired and uninspiring. Investors can't make up their minds if the
market is a buy or sell. Is this another consolidation before another
move upwards?
Snapshot of Marginal Tax Rates for Low- and Moderate-Income Workers
by Shannon Mok, analyst in Congression Budget Office's (CBO) Tax Analysis Division
Marginal tax rates are the percentage of
an additional dollar of income that is paid in taxes or given up in
government benefits; those rates affect taxpayers' choices about many
things, including how much to work and save. In 2013, 37 percent of low-
and moderate-income taxpayers who have earnings face total marginal tax
rates-including federal and state individual income taxes, federal
payroll taxes, and the phasing out of benefits from the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program-between 30 percent and 39 percent, and over
20 percent of that group face marginal rates of 40 percent or more.
Trucking Tonnage Up in September 2013 And Stronger than General Economic Growth
Econintersect:
The American Trucking Associations' (ATA) trucking index increased 1.4%
in September same as August. It should be noted that there has been
little growth in trucking jobs for September 2013 according to the
Bureau of Labor Statistics. From
ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello:
Market Commentary: Averages Slowly Sinking On Falling Volume
Midday Market Commentary For 10-23-2013
The averages have sea-sawed downward on
volume that was heavy in the morning and is currently sliding to
moderate. Obviously, investors are leaning to the sell side, but the
jury is still out with a final judgment.
By noon the volume was falling, the numbers were falling and investors mood was not improving.
FHA's Single-Family Mortgage Guarantee Program: Budgetary Cost or Savings?
by Chad Chirico and Susanne Mehlman, analysts in Congressional Budget Office's Budget Analysis Division
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA)
operates a guarantee program for single-family mortgages that aims to
extend access to homeownership to potential buyers who lack the savings,
credit history, or income to qualify for conventional mortgages. Under
the program, FHA insures certain mortgages issued by private lenders, in
exchange for a fee. If a borrower fails to make a payment or defaults
on an insured mortgage, the FHA pays the issuer or holder of the
mortgage the amount due. (FHA operates a similar program for mortgages
on multifamily residences.)
Nonfinancial Leverage NFCI Declined w/e 18 October 2013
The Nonfinancial leverage subindex of the National Financial Conditions Index increased slightly (less good) this week but still remains well inside of economic expansion territory. Econintersect focuses on non-financial tools to monitor the economy.
This index remains on a
"less good" trend line, and is believed to be a good forward indicator a
recession is coming. A value above zero is a recession warning. This
week there was a moderate revision to the entire series.
Australians Warned to Flee Homes in Blue Mountains
Thousands
of Australians are being warned to flee their homes in the Blue
Mountains as hot dry winds threaten firestorm conditions. The worst
fears of those fighting New South Wales worst bushfires in decades
became a reality on Wednesday.
Market Commentary: Markets Open Down On Weak Financial News
Opening Market Commentary For 10-23-2013
Premarkets were off initially -0.40% and
rose to -0.10% by the opening bell. Caterpillar posted disappointing
results, Boeing beat street estimates and US import/export prices rise
in September - mixed morning news.
Markets opened down and immediately
started to melt further down as we have seen in previous sessions. By 10
am the small caps were down -0.85% leading the large caps in the
decent. It is normally about this time when the averages start to
recover and start melting upward, not sure this going to happen today.
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Export / Import Prices Deflation Continues in September 2013
Written by Steven Hansen
In September 2013, year-over-year export and importprices deflated.
Import prices have deflated year-over year for 14 of the last 15 months.
Read more >>
American Presidency: Is It a Joke (II)?
Written by Frank Li
This article was triggered by this news
article: Bill Clinton: Chelsea would make a great president. While I
appreciate the humor behind President Bill Clinton's joke, it's time for
me to re-visit the subject of American Presidency: Is It A Joke?, with
this sequel ...
For Small Caps, Getting Small Businesses Online Is a Winning Proposition
About Small Cap Stocks Article of the Week
Written by Allen Caron
In today's overwhelmingly online world,
it may come as a surprise to learn that 52 percent of small businesses
(SMBs) in the US are not online - or at least they don't have a website.
As explained by Damian Rollison, VP of Product and Technology at UBL
Interactive, Inc * (OTCMKTS: UBLI), since 2009 there's been less than 1
percent growth in SMBs gaining websites. However, local search continues
to grow, with 85 percent of Internet users looking for local
information online.
Housing Smoke and Mirrors (23) - 'On the Contrary'
Written by Adam Whitehead, KeySignals.com
Housing Smoke and Mirrors "Equivocation" reported the transition in the
housing market, from strength to consolidation, as interest rates rose
in expectation of the Fed "Taper". This transition phase became evident
in the data and commentary in July. Moving into August, this has become
an unequivocal consensus that the housing market has stalled.
Read more >>
JP Morgan: Additional $6 Billion for Settlements?
Econintersect:
The giant Wall Street bank is opening it's coffers again, this time for
$6 billion to settle with institutional investors who claim they were
defrauded by MBS (mortgage backed securities) sold to them by JP Morgan
Chase (NYSE:JPM). The deal is not finalized as this is written but the Financial Times says that the settlement is "nearing" agreement. But the same FT article reports that one person involved indicated that agreemnt was "not imminent". The amount is also subject to change, according to the FT source.
Pew: Almost Half of Americans Think Exchanges Not Working Well
Responses from the General Public Show Strong Correlation to Media Reports, with Limited Actual Experience
Econintersect: A poll conducted by Pew Research
between October 9 and 13 found that almost half (46%) of those polled
say that online public health insurance exchanges are not working at all
well or are not working "too well". That is not surprising considering
all the news items about exchange website failures. But there is a
surprising result in that almost one in three say the sites are working
very well or fairly well.
Investing.com: Technical Analysis 22 October 2013
Investing.com Technical Analysis (as of Tue, 22 October 2013 05:00pm EDT)
by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
Below, technical overviews and analysis for key stock indices, commodities and
currency
pairs, based on market activity at the close of the 22 October 2013
U.S. session. This information is a comprehensive summary derived from
simple and exponential moving averages along with key technical
indicators shown for specific time intervals.
Infographic of the Day: Social Media for Recruitment
An
overwhelming majority of companies in the U.S. use social media, while
almost half of firms provide links to social media on their career page
section.
Rural vs Urban Culture Wars
by Fabius Maximus, FabiusMaximus.com
Summary: One fascinating
aspect of globalization is reading descriptions of social dynamics in
China or Pakistan, and realizing that this applies as well to America.
It is one world. That's good news, giving us a wider range of solutions
to learn from - and even borrow. Also, seeing this commonality helps
disprove our delusion of exceptionalism. Today we look at one example:
the rural - urban culture wars.
From the opening of Hadji Murat, Tolstoy's last novel (1917); pdf here:
Can New Models Revive Apple's iPad Growth?
by Felix Richter, Statista.com
Apple's iPad has been a blockbuster
success from the start. Most recently however, Apple's tablet sales
have started to decelerate in a way that must be worrying to the
company's leadership team. Will today's new models re-energize iPad
sales?
