US consumer spending is holding up, even as manufacturing is under tremendous pressure. Consumers have been dipping into savings owed to loads of government stimulus post-Covid. Bank deposits remain healthy but at the same time the rate of change year-over-year … Continued
Major US equity indices staged a massive reversal last Thursday, with more strength Friday. This probably bodes well for bulls near term. For this to translate into medium-term momentum, investors need to embrace risk-on. Real GDP growth has softened. Four … Continued
In September, Americans saved a mere 3.1 percent of their disposable personal income. This was the lowest since three percent in December 2007. The savings rate has trended lower since peaking at 6.3 percent in October 2015, which means it … Continued
XLY (SPDR consumer discretionary ETF) saves a potential breakdown – for now, and just in time. On June 5 this year, XLY (89.36) rallied to 92.14, before retreating. Seven weeks later, on July 27, it rallied to 92.55, only to … Continued
XLY, the SPDR consumer discretionary ETF, acts well. It just broke out to a new high, as did its top three holdings – Amazon (AMZN), Home Depot (HD), and Comcast Corporation (CMCSA). These three make up 12.7 percent, 7.3 percent … Continued
The S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. national home price index advanced 5.2 percent year-over-year in October. This was the fastest growth since July last year. However, annual price appreciation has been decelerating since peaking at 10.9 percent two years ago. The October 2013 … 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
The energizer bunny marches on. The U.S. consumer, that is. In the third quarter, the U.S. economy grew an annualized 1.5 percent. This was the first estimate, so it probably gets revised up or down by the time we have … Continued
What exactly would Fed officials be focused on when they decide to hike – or not – rates? It is a fair question given the amount of variance in their message. On Tuesday evening, John Williams, president of the San … Continued
One of the hallmarks of the current U.S. recovery has been conflicting signals coming out of the job market. The unemployment rate is low – nearly cut in half from 10 percent in October 2009 to 5.1 percent in August. … Continued