1. “don’t fight the Fed”–people have continually said this and believe it but look at the evidence…this might be true for a week or two but beyond this there is a inverse relationship…when the Feds lower rates the equity market go down…look at 2000-2003 and 2007-2008…this pattern has been repeated over and over again yet [...]
This was the last Friday before Christmas! Ditto for Lowe’s. Went out today for lunch and drove around for a look see, not much happening, more like a regular day not the holidays! This doesn’t bode well for post Christmas sales figures.
I see some major problems in the first quarter of next year;
1. The commercial [...]
Investors poised to scoop up Wall Street bargains, hope for Santa Claus rally
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors head into a holiday-shortened week with optimism that recent moves to prop up the ailing auto industry and slash interest rates might trigger a year-end rally.
Like the deep discounts luring holiday shoppers to the malls, the steep drop [...]
By Edmund Conway and Angela Monaghan
Last Updated: 12:27PM GMT 19 Dec 2008
Sterling dipped closer to parity against the euro, with the single currency now worth more than 95p for the first time ever. The pound’s fall came amid fast-growing disquiet about the fate of the UK economy and consumer sentiment next year.
The pound has now [...]
By Shawn Langlois, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12/16/2008 2:43:00 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - While the White House remained mostly mum about the
next chapter in the car bailout saga on Tuesday, Moody’s Investors Service said
there is a 70% chance the U.S. government will provide aid in prepackaged
bankruptcy scenario.
The credit ratings agency also put the probability of a federal [...]
“I live very close to a huge outlet mall. 6 months ago I checked it out and peeps were buying cr@p left and right - couldn’t get a parking space, people with full bags from multiple stores etc… Checked it out a couple weeks ago and there were about 1/2 the people as before and [...]
“Consumer confidence had already declined by mid-2008 by more than prior to any past recession and the steep October loss indicates that accelerated cutbacks in spending can be expected during the months ahead,” according to Richard Curtin, director of the consumer survey.
“Consumers rated the current administration’s economic policies more unfavorably than ever before in the [...]
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Consumer sentiment improved in August, according to a
media report on the University of Michigan/Reuters index released Friday. The
index rose to 63 in late August, compared with 61.7 earlier in the month, and
61.2 in July. The index reached a 28-year low in June. Economists surveyed by
MarketWatch were expecting the August result to reach [...]
On Tuesday, the Commerce Department releases its April data on new home sales, expected to show a decline from March sales, according to economists surveyed Friday by Thomson Financial/IFR. Also Tuesday, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index for May is anticipated to edge lower, too.
Wednesday, the Commerce Department reports on orders for durable goods, which [...]
Please, let’s go back to some basics. Consumer spending is nearly 70% of the US economy. Spending on housing is a huge chunk of that. Virtually all of the spending since 9/11 has been debt driven. The average consumer is hunkering down right now, barely able to pay the bills they have and fill the [...]
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