Equity Bulls Later Last Week Used Bad Data To Load Up On Stocks, More Gains Likely Ahead

posted in: Credit, Economy, Equities, Technicals | 0

Last Thursday, bulls used initial weakness in major equity indices owed to 4Q22 productivity report as an opportunity to buy. Friday, they bought more. More gains are likely ahead. Fed funds futures are very volatile. Traders are actively reacting real … Continued

Recent Uptick In Unit Labor Costs Unlikely To Sustain

posted in: Economy | 0

The latest productivity report had observers buzzing more about unit labor costs than output per hour. In 4Q16, unit labor costs jumped at an annual rate of 1.68 percent, up from 0.18 percent in 3Q16. This comes in the wake … Continued

U.S. non-financials’ 2014 capX >internally generated funds. One-off, given energy dynamics?

posted in: Economy | 0

Subdued corporate capX now will adversely impact productivity later First time in 6 years, U.S. non-financials corporate capX exceeds internal funds Given new energy dynamics and impact on capX, too early to back-slap and high-five? U.S. corporations have not been … Continued

In age of personal branding, difficult to decipher if message is real or has ulterior motive

posted in: Commodities, Economy, Uncategorized | 0

Shortly after noon on Saturday, a Zero Hedge tweet caught my attention.  It was entitled “‘From Bubble-Blower To Energy Expert, Alan Greenspan warns ‘Oil Hasn’t Bottomed Yet.’”  Apparently he was on Bloomberg with Betty Liu, and in the interview talked … Continued

Amid slowing U.S. productivity, wage hike means margin shrinkage for business

posted in: Economy | 0

Recent WMT announcement notwithstanding, wage stagnation has been a trend 4Q14 U.S. non-farm output per hour goes negative – first drop since 3Q11 Businesses can pay productive workforce higher wages and still win Later this morning, we get February’s U.S. … Continued