It appears the longest government shutdown on record is about to end. The news sent both yields and equities higher. If the government is on the verge of reopening there will be a deluge of data, a flood that may be murky or dated, an environment that may not be fully clear until early 2026. … Read more
The cross currents are huge. The Atlanta Fed’s GDP Now model is projecting a 4.0% GDP for the third quarter of 2025. This signals economic expansion well above the long-term historical average of 3.2%. How accurate is this forecast given the government shutdown? A private sector consumer sentiment survey was released Friday indicating sentiment has … Read more
A third-tier employment report was the catalyst for a moderate decline in equities and an advance in Treasury prices. The Challenger Jobs Cuts Survey, a survey that typically attracts little attention, indicated that companies slashed the greatest number of jobs for the month of October since 2003. Wednesday, equities rallied on the ADP Private Sector … Read more
The few data points that have been released have indicated increasing economic strength. The ISM Service Sector, which represents about 70% of the economy, expanded in October by the fastest pace in eight months. The reading exceeded all estimates. Unfortunately, the rebound in demand was also accompanied by more pronounced inflationary pressures as the group’s … Read more
Monday the attitude towards the Magnificent Seven was beyond giddiness proportions. On the other hand, yesterday there were warnings galore regarding the run up in anything AI related. Will the attitude again change? At casual glance, half of the financial media believes AI is in a bubble while the other half thinks there are great … Read more
The Magnificent Seven advanced about 1.5% yesterday even as 400 S & P 500 companies declined yesterday. The pressure to perform, the fear of missing out, the outright giddiness surrounding these shares believing that these companies are unstoppable and impervious to any type of issues is incredible. This trend will continue until it does not, … Read more
Optimism is at giddy proportions that revolutionary technology and optimism that the Federal Reserve will continue to lower interest rates is boosting the S & P with gargantuan short-term gains in the largest technology companies. The gains in NVDA are incomprehensible. It took 24 years, 4 months and 8 days for NVDA to be worth … Read more
The popular indices held up very well yesterday given the 13% drubbing of META and 4% decline in MSFT. As widely discussed, the Magnificent Seven has been the primary driver of index valuation at the expense of most other companies. Government data states there is about $45.8 trillion in retirement assets. According to Vanguard, 45% … Read more
Giddy optimism in AI is propelling tech stocks to unfathomable levels. NVDA broached the $5 trillion level, at one time sporting a capitalization of $5.3 trillion. Writing it differently, NVDA is worth more than the GDP of every country in the world for exception of the US and China. NVDA is worth about 17% of … Read more
Will today be one of great significance? The FOMC is expected to lower interest rates by 0.25%. Most will be paying close attention to the post-meeting statement and outlook. And then there are the earnings releases of some of the largest companies in the world. At the close GOOG, MSFT and META post results. Tomorrow … Read more
