Equity bears have been rewarded the past couple of weeks, with the S&P 500 large cap index down 1.6 percent. There is likely more reward medium term, but near-term is a toss-up. In the wake of the 2.5-percent drop on … Continued
The importance of consumers in the U.S. economy cannot be stressed enough. Real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) accounted for 68.6 percent of gross domestic product in the third quarter. Five decades ago, PCE’s share was nine points lower. Put another … Continued
In the past five weeks, all things in the world of bonds have done a lot of running… but on the treadmill. The popular bond ETF, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), is essentially unchanged during that time … Continued
Is the Fed about to make a mistake? Post-FOMC meeting yesterday, the Fed’s ‘dot plot’ suggested a majority of policymakers were leaving the door open for two rate hikes in 2015. After the release of the statement, TLT, the iShares … Continued
The PowerShares QQQ (110.05), the ETF that tracks the Nasdaq 100, seems to want to go lower, at least near-term. When the Qs broke out of 104-plus in February, it quickly added nearly four percent, rallying seven-plus percent for the … Continued
Since spot West Texas Intermediate crude broke out of 54 mid-April, it has continued to add to gains, even as XLE, the energy SPDR ETF, has gone sideways/down. Since that major push through four-month consolidation in the middle of April, … Continued
Apple, Inc.’s (AAPL) March quarter was a blowout – gross margin of 40.8 percent, along with 61.2 million iPhone units sold (135 million in six months), among others. It also increased buybacks to $200 billion from now through 2017. The … Continued