Market News – October 8, 2018

Market News

  LOWEST UNEMPLOYMENT RATE SINCE DECEMBER 1969:  137,000 new jobs were added to the U.S. economy in September, the 96th straight month of gains.  137,000 is not a particularly large number, and it may have been affected by Hurricane Florence.  However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics updated the July and August numbers upward by fairly…

October 8, 2018

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Market News – October 1, 2018

Market News

WHILE YOU WERE NOT PAYING ATTENTION: While no one seemed to be paying attention, the stock market muddled through a week that ended slightly lower.  Nothing extraordinary occurred to move markets in one direction or the other.  Early in the week, trade tensions with China moved stocks lower.  Then the Fed made their announcement raising…

October 1, 2018

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Market News – September 24, 2018

Market News

CONTINUING THE BALANCING ACT: The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank has two stated goals, full employment and price stability. While there are still areas of labor underperformance across the country, for all practical purposes the Fed has achieved its twin objectives. Unemployment and inflation numbers look very good. Moving forward, the Fed must strike a balance.…

September 24, 2018

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Market News – September 17, 2018

Market News

U.S. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION IS HEALTHY: For the third consecutive month, industrial production in the U.S. rose, this time by 0.4%. Manufacturing output increased by 0.2% largely due to a big increase in the production of motor vehicle parts. Industrial output in August was 4.9% higher than August of a year ago.   …AS ARE RETAIL…

September 17, 2018

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Market News – September 10, 2018

Market News

EMPLOYMENT PICTURE STILL LOOKS ROSY: Data from the prior month and week (see next entry) shows a labor market that continues to be strong. For the month of August the U.S. economy added 201,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate stayed at 3.9%. In addition, wages rose at a healthy pace. August wages were 2.9%…

September 10, 2018

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Market News – September 3, 2018

Market News

HELP ME OUT: I will be using a different platform to send these emails beginning in three weeks, the one that goes out Sunday night, September 24. If 9:00 P.M. passes that night, and you do not get this email, please make sure it did not go to your spam folder, and if you don’t…

September 3, 2018

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Market News – August 27, 2018

Market News

RECOVERY AND A LONGEVITY RECORD: On January 26 of this year, the S&P 500 hit a record high, and then it fell. On Friday it closed above the January 26 mark for the first time, fully recovering from its swoon earlier in the year. On Wednesday, the bull market in U.S. stocks became the longest…

August 27, 2018

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Market News – August 20, 2018

Market News

U.S. CONSUMERS ARE BUYING: From June to July, retail sales in the U.S. jumped 0.5%. Sales last July were a full 6.4% higher than July of 2017. Robust hiring, low unemployment, and more take home pay are leading to more spending. Growth in retail sales was driven by sales at grocery stores, restaurants, department stores…

August 20, 2018

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Market News – August 13, 2018

Market News

TURKEY TROUBLES: Turkey’s economy had been chugging along for some time. After the 2008 financial crisis, the central banks in the U.S. and the European Union (and other countries) flooded markets with newly printed money. The liquidity crisis turned into a liquidity glut and that allowed Turkey (and other emerging market countries) to access cheap…

August 13, 2018

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Market News – August 6, 2018

Market News

157,000 NEW JOBS: The U.S. economy added 157,000 new jobs to its economy in July, and the unemployment rate decreased to 3.9%. This monthly result was a bit lower than expected. However, the May and June reports were revised upward fairly substantially which gave the overall report a more positive view. For the first seven…

August 6, 2018

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