November 8, 2016 Last week we spoke of “the really big shew” and today is the headline performance — The Presidential Election. First, let’s do a review of the preliminary acts. On Monday of last week, we had a release of the personal income and spending numbers. While they were in line with expectations, the […]
Read MoreNovember 1, 2016 For those of you who are old enough, you might remember Ed Sullivan starting his weekly broadcast with “We have a really big shew tonight.” Well, when he said it, show did sound like “shew.” Ed Sullivan was the venue that featured Elvis Presley, the Beatles and countless other acts for a […]
Read MoreOctober 25, 2016 You can’t read or watch the news and not view a story about some type of addiction in America — whether it is common substances such as caffeine, legal prescription drugs such as pain killers, or illicit drugs such as heroin. But today, we ask a question about addictions and our economy. […]
Read MoreOctober 18, 2016 There is now less than 30 days before the Presidential election. And as we predicted some time ago, the rhetoric has ratcheted up significantly. So much so, that many analysts are indicating that this is the most acrimonious race in history. No one should be surprised at all regarding these conclusions. And […]
Read MoreThe fact that the Federal Reserve Board did not raise interest rates at their last meeting made this week’s release of the job numbers for September very interesting. A weak, or even moderate report would have affirmed the Fed’s position. A very strong report makes the markets think that the Fed should have acted. One must remember that it […]
Read MoreIf you were looking for a respite in the markets after the meeting of the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee, you would be disappointed. This week the jobs report for September is being released, the first big news of the last quarter of the year — though it is based upon third quarter numbers. Because […]
Read MoreAfter much speculation on both sides, the Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee met last week and made their decision regarding interest rates. The markets experienced significant volatility leading up to the meeting as stocks pulled back, interest rates rose and oil prices fell. With the volatility, none of these moves came in a straight line, especially with regard to […]
Read MoreSeems like it happens often when a meeting of the Federal Reserve Board is coming. The markets analyze all the data, and declare that the rate hike is not likely. Then the closer we get to the meeting, the more the markets get jittery by thinking that a rate hike may take place anyway. This […]
Read MoreThe initial reaction with regard to the slightly disappointing August jobs numbers, was speculation that a rate hike was less likely to result from the meeting of the Federal Reserve Board’s Open Market Committee next week. Keep in mind that many are speculating that the Fed will be reticent to take any actions at the following meeting, which takes […]
Read MoreThe Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Janet Yellen, recently caused quite a debate in the markets with a recent speech indicating that she believed the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months. The debate not only centered around whether a rate increase was justified based upon […]
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