29 June 2006 Daily Comment
This is our last post until July 5, 2006
Thoughts
Today is the day. After today the
talking heads and gurus will have to find another topic on which to focus as
the Fed will announce its wording going forward.
Overseas Asia
was higher and most of Europe is over 1% higher. Gold is
up $2 and oil remains above $72.
U.S.
futures are also higher while Treasuries are a tad weaker.
*****
BP is facing legal action in
the US over
charges that it tried to manipulate propane prices in 2004.
Regulators allege its BP Products North America
subsidy artificially forced up prices by buying up huge propane stocks only to
withhold them from the market.
BP has denied the civil charges and said it
intended to defend itself, and added that staff had been dismissed.
On Wednesday, a former BP trader, Dennis Abbott,
pleaded guilty to manipulating the propane market.
The Federal Trade Commission
filed a complaint against British
Petroleum/Amoco accusing traders for that company of cornering the propane
gas market in February 2004 causing a 50% rise in the price of propane gas and illegally
increasing the cost of propane for 7 million rural homes. Our home in the land
of milk and honey is one of those 7 million.
We have said for years that the ridiculous
prices on propane and even gasoline when there are no shortages are the result
of market manipulation. This complaint is only the tip of the iceberg.
But the bulk of the iceberg will
remain submerged and causing damage because the enforcers are in bed with the
miscreants. So it goes in the U.S. in the 21st century.
To read the complaints (you must be a subscriber) go to: http://online.wsj.com/
*****
Two and one half hours into the
day the DJIA is up 90 points and the S&P 500 is at 1260 resistance. Breadth
is better than 2/1 positive and volume is summer light.
*****
At noon
oil has a price of $73.30 on it. Traders must be celebrating the FTC complaint
against BP for cornering the propane market in 2004.
*****
Hurricane Katrina created $100
billion of flood related spending since it occurred last summer. That’s quite a
stimulus for the economy that may not be there this year. And if there is
another bad hurricane or two can the insurance companies and homeowners weather
another hit like they took last year?
*****
Going into the Fed announcement the DJIA is up 85 points and the Treasury
two-year is at 5.25% and the ten-year at 5.22%.
Fed raises to 5.25% and issues the following announcement:
The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to raise its target for
the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 5-1/4 percent.
Recent
indicators suggest that economic growth is moderating from its quite strong
pace earlier this year, partly reflecting a gradual cooling of the housing
market and the lagged effects of increases in interest rates and energy prices.
Readings on core inflation have been elevated in recent months. Ongoing
productivity gains have held down the rise in unit labor costs, and inflation
expectations remain contained. However, the high levels of resource utilization
and of the prices of energy and other commodities have the potential to sustain
inflation pressures.
Although
the moderation in the growth of aggregate demand should help to limit inflation
pressures over time, the Committee judges that some inflation risks remain. The
extent and timing of any additional firming that may be needed to address these
risks will depend on the evolution of the outlook for both inflation and
economic growth, as implied by incoming information. In any event, the
Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to support
the attainment of its objectives.
Voting for
the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke,
Chairman; Timothy F. Geithner, Vice Chairman; Susan
S. Bies; Jack Guynn; Donald
L. Kohn; Randall S. Kroszner; Jeffrey M. Lacker; Sandra Pianalto; Kevin M.
Warsh; and Janet L. Yellen.
In a
related action, the Board of Governors unanimously approved a 25-basis-point
increase in the discount rate to 6-1/4 percent. In taking this action, the
Board approved the requests submitted by the Boards of Directors of the Federal
Reserve Banks of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, Atlanta,
Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Dallas.
*****
Initially the DJIA is up 100 points more to up 180 points and the
S&P 500 is through resistance at 1260 and is trading at 1266.
The two-year is 5.22% and Ten-year at 5.20%.
*****
The markets and the talking heads
have decided that the Fed statement has backed off an automatic hike in August
and so the markets are maintaining the rally after the statement. With forty minutes
of trading left the DJIA is up 190 points and breadth is 3/1 positive.
*****
Treasuries are also ending better with the two-year at 5.20% and
the ten-year at 5.20%.
*****
Oil closed up $1.36 at $73.55 and gold was up $7.90 at $596.
*****
European bourses closed 1% to 2%
higher and Mexico
and Brazil are
both up 3% today.
*****
On the pop in the major measures we sold our only position in many
accounts in the Powershares ETF at $15.90 for a scratch. Some of our larger accounts own
PJP at a higher price and we are going to hold in those accounts. We are
now cash and carry. We think the rally today is short covering and Quarter end
position squaring.
*****
The DJIA closed up 217 points at 11190. Today was the largest one day
point gain since March 2003. The S&P
500 gained 27 points to 1272 and the NAZZ
rose 60 points to 2172.
Breadth was 4/1 positive at the bell and up volume exceeded down volume
by a 9/1 margin. Overall volume was active.
New lows contracted to fewer than
200 and new highs expanded to over 150.
And there is one more casino fun
day left and it is the last day of the month, quarter and marks the half year
and the end of the fiscal year for most charitable organizations.
Have a safe and
happy Fourth.
*****
28 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Asia was
lower overnight and Europe is also lower. This follows
on the down day for stocks in the U.S.
on Tuesday. Gold is up a couple of dollars to $586 and oil is back above $72.
Investors’ intelligence has 37% bulls up from 35% last week and 36%
bears also up from 35%.
J Crew, the catalogue clothing
retailer, was priced at $20 on its initial IPO. It is now trading at $25. Mickey Drexler who built The Gap is running
the company and Wall Street likes him here when they had soured on him at The
Gap. We are interested in the company but will let the hoopla settle down
before doing anything.
*****
Stocks opened higher in the first
hour of trading with al the major measures on the plus side. The same trading
occurred yesterday and then the bulls ran out of steam. We’ll see.
*****
Oil inventories dropped by a more
than expected 3.5 million barrels. And gasoline also dropped by 1 million
barrels. But crude oil inventories remain ample and above the average for this time
of year. Oil is remains over $72.
Treasuries are inching higher in
yield today with the two-year at 5.26% and the ten-year at 5.22%.
*****
This is an interesting story: http://www.marketwatch.com
*****
Gold is trading at $582 near the close and oil was $72.19.
*****
Treasuries were a bit lower in price with the two-year at 5.25% and
the ten-year at 5.22%.
*****
Europe
closed mixed in quiet trading.
*****
The DJIA closed up 50 points at 10975. The S&P 500 gained 7 points to 1247 and the NAZZ rose 10 points to
2110.
The support levels for the DJIA, the S&P 500 and the NAZZ all held
today and the NAZZ reported a record short interest. Those are bullish signs,
but they don’t move us to try and traded this market.
Breadth was 5/4 positive on the NYSE and flat on the NAZZ and volume was summer light.
New lows expanded to over 360 and
new highs contracted to fewer than
60.
And after the Fed speaks tomorrow
at 1pm there may be a flurry of
activity and then the Holiday weekend will begin for many
traders.
The Casino will be open tomorrow,
Friday, and Monday but many folks will be absent the last two of those days. We will have a post tomorrow and then our
next post will be next Wednesday July 5.
*****
27 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
GM announced that about
35,000 folks had taken its buyout offer and will be leaving the company is the
next year. 12,000 folks at Delphi did the same. In the
1950s and 1960s the U.S.
economy was all about creating jobs. All that began to change in the 1980s. Now
share prices rise when companies fire or buyout workers in the U.S.
and create jobs overseas at much lower wages. And when they move their holding
company headquarters to Bermuda and other offshore
havens that allow them to avoid U. S.
taxes analysts wax eloquent about how well the companies are run. It is a
different world.
*****
Sprint completed its
purchase of Nextel Partners for $6.5 billion and now has 51 million wireless
subscribers. We are interested in the stock but S still has to spin off
its land lines business and we are watching the stock for now. It is trading at
its 52 week low.
*****
AT&T has rolled out
its television service in San Antonio, Texas.
Analysts expect the television service over telephone lines to provide
competition for cable. Actually out here in the boonies we gave up our
satellite service for television and get it over the telephone lines of our
socialist local telephone cooperative. The capitalist shareholder owned
companies in our area don’t offer television service or DSL.
*****
Overnight Asia
was fractionally mixed and European bourses are mostly fractionally lower. In
the early going gold is up a couple of dollars at $390 and oil is over $72.
Treasuries area bit lower in yield higher in price. U.S.
futures are lower.
*****
Citigroup upped GM’s
price target from $17 to $20. Given that GM is trading at $28 we
wonder why.
*****
Existing home sales were down
1.2% month over month. Treasuries are better on the news and stocks are lower.
3 hours into the trading day the major stock measures are off about one half
per cent.
*****
Between 1966 and 1983 the DJIA
traded in a range of 500 (in late 1974) to 1000 (1966, 1972, and 1983). The
DJIA made a high of 1000 in 1966 and didn’t get through that level permanently
until 1983. Also during that period land prices went up by 400% and more and
oil began its inexorable price rise. Timing those markets allowed lucky traders
to make a good deal of money but for folks who bought stocks to hold
and/or bonds of 20 years duration or longer that period was a real calamity.
The 6% AT&T bonds due in 1998 that were issued in 1969 traded as low as 45
cents on the dollar in the early 1980s when interest rates hit 14% on the
thirty-year Treasuries.
Our thinking is that stocks may
be in a similar period right now. And our guess is that until land prices
moderate and begin to move lower the markets can’t move significantly higher
for any sustained period. We think that investment money is still flowing or is
locked up in land and housing and that a drop in real estate prices is needed
to free that money up for investment in stocks. It is no coincidence that the
stock markets have gone nowhere in the last seven years while real estate
prices have sky rocketed.
But initially, as real estate
prices moderate and drop, the stock markets will also. That is because of the
flight to safety factor. We have made a very good return on investments during
the market collapse of the 2000 to 2003 period and we are intent on maintaining
our capital in a relatively risk free manner until we are comfortable with
stock prices.
As we said last week stocks were
cheap in 2002, they are not cheap. now. On a relative
basis there are stocks that are fairly priced in relation to other stocks but
that doesn’t mean they are cheap. And we only want to place the majority of our
assets in stocks when they are cheap. Till then we will trade around the edges
and at year end and maintain a large cash or short tem Treasury position.
*****
GM said that overall U.S.
sales will probably be below sales of 2005 because of higher interest rates and
gasoline prices. They didn’t mention that competitors have better cars.
GM is now trading lower by $1.50.
*****
As we said last week if the stock
market doesn’t crash before August we think the Fed will go to 5.50% then after
5.25% this week.
*****
On a year over year basis retail
sales were up 4.1% although the headline was that on a month to month basis
retail sales were down 0.1%.
*****
The typical CEO makes 242
times what the typical worker makes. (CNBC)
*****
The
Department of Agriculture has stated that ethanol produces 67% more energy than
what is used to create it. This is the other side of the equation: http://www.sciencedaily.com
*****
Entering the final hour of
trading the DJIA is down 107 points and the S&P 500 is off 10 points at
1240. The bulls need a rally in the last hour.
*****
New York
gold was down $3.30 to $584.40. Oil ended at $71.95 up 15
pennies.
*****
Treasuries were better on the
day at the close but below best levels with the two-year at 5.24% which was
above the auction yield of 5.23% and the ten-year at 5.21%.
*****
Most of Europe
closed modestly higher.
*****
There was no last hour rally. The
DJIA closed down 117 points at 10928. The S&P 500 closed down 11
points at 1240 and the NAZZ dropped 33 points to 2100.
Breadth was better than 2/1
negative and volume was light.
New lows expanded to over 330
while new highs were less than 100.
The rally days have been more
labored than the sell off days in the last month except for the back to back
Wednesday/Thursday combo rally of several weeks ago.
And the Casino will be open for
three more days this week. The stock markets are open next Monday for
those who care. We don’t and won’t be open.
*****
26 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Last week Anadarko announced it was buying Kerr McGee and Western GAS
Resources for $21 billion.
This morning we learn that Phelps Dodge is buying Inco and Falconbridge for $40 billion plus buying back $5 billion
in Phelps Dodge shares. PD was advised by Citigroup and HSBC. Inco was advised
by Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs. Falconbridge was
advised by CIBC World Markets. And that is the real story. Six years ago these
companies could have been purchased for one
sixth or less of the cost. Where were the investment banks then?
These types of mega merger deals
are contagious so we would expect more to come. And we would guess that a few
years from now everyone will be wondering why.
*****
Stock buybacks instead of special dividends help the owners of
options such as company executives. Dividends instead of stock buybacks would
help shareholders but not company executives who own only options to buy stock
but not the shares themselves. In fact many times the company executives only
own stock long enough to sell it.
*****
In the early going stocks are a
bit higher in light trading. Treasuries are a tad weaker and gold and oil are
both lower. Asia was mixed overnight and Europe
is trading lower in their midday
hours.
*****
New home sales were 1.234 million
in May about 90,000 more than expected
in the latest reporting period. There isn’t much data left for the Fed or
traders to look at before the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday.
*****
One of the regular talking head spokespersons
on CNBC just said that consolidations or buyouts of companies usually occur at
bottoms. That is a bunch of hooey. In our time which covers 40 years we have
seen a lot more buyout crazes at market highs than market lows.
*****
Oil ended at $71.80 up 93
pennies. Gold was up 30 pennies at $583.
*****
Europe ended
mostly lower and Treasuries were
weaker on the long end with the two-year at 5.26% and the ten-year at 5.24%.
*****
The DJIA closed up 57 points at 11045. The S&P 500 gained 6 points to 1250 and the NAZZ was up 12 points at 2133.
Breadth was 2/1 positive and
volume was light.
New lows exceeded 250 and new
highs were over 90.
And the Casino will be open for 4
more days this week.
*****
22 June 2006 Daily Comment
We will be
traveling again tomorrow to pick up our biking family after their 6 day ride
across the state of Wisconsin from La Crosse to Sheboygan.
Next post will be Monday June 23.
Thoughts
*****
Asia and Europe
followed yesterday’s large increase in U.S.
stocks. Japan
was up 3% and Hong Kong was 1% with the Sensex Index
which includes a bunch of Asian countries was up 1.8%. Europe
is trading higher as the morning trade in the U.S.
begins.
Treasuries are a bit weaker on the longer end while oil is up 70 pennies at $71.03 and gold is up $1.50 at $592.
*****
Sprint/Nextel was downgraded this
morning. We are interested in the shares as one of the big three telecom
companies but don’t like the split up of the land line and wireless that is in
the works so we have been avoiding the stock. There is some point where S would be interesting but that level
is the mid teens not $20 where it is currently selling.
*****
A lot is being written about how
cheap the markets are. The same folks who are paying $40 for Aetna down from $55
earlier this year were probably not interested in the shares when they were trading
at $7 in 2002. The same goes for any
number of companies’ shares back then. GE
at $20, HPQ at $10 and Texas Instruments at $13 are only a few
examples. Stocks were truly cheap back
then and our only regret-since we did well for clients in that time period- is
that we were overly influenced by the price action of the stocks and easy
profits rather than recognizing their inherent value at those levels. But that
is spilled milk.
*****
Short interest in the NYSE was up 5% month to month
as of June 12 at about 9 billion shares.
*****
After two hours of trading the major measures are
lower but above their lows of the day. Treasuries have moved higher in yield
with the two-year at 5.22% and the ten-year at 5.19%.
*****
The last two years at this time of year (June) we
and our accounts were down 4% (2004) and 7% (2005) for the year. In 2004 we
finished the year up 9% and in 2005 we ended down 3%.
This year we are up 2.7% with the S&P 500
down 1%.
*****
Oil ended up 70 pennies at $70.95. Gold was down $6 at $585.
*****
Treasuries gave ground
as talk of a 50 basis point raise next week became more widespread. The two-year
finished at 5.23% and the ten-year at 5.20%.
Treasury bond holders have lost a
good chunk of principal this year as rates have risen.
*****
Europe
closed higher for the day as their bourses closed before the major stock
measures in the U.S.
moved substantially below unchanged.
*****
In the last hour of trading
yesterday the DJIA gave up 40 points even though the DJIA closed up 100 points
on the day. Traders say the last hour action represents the smart money.
Entering the final hour of
trading today the DJIA was down 65 points.
*****
One of the investor sentiment indicators
has the largest number of bearish investors since 2002. That usually is a
bullish sign. We shall see if usually works this time. We don’t think so.
*****
Brazil
and Mexico were
both down less than 1% near the close.
*****
Five years ago today the DJIA closed at 10604. The S&P 500 ended at
1225 and the NAZZ closed at 2034.
*****
The DJIA closed down 61 points at 10980. The S&P 500 lost 7 points to finish at support of 1245 and the NAZZ dropped 19 points to 2122.
Breadth was 2/1 negative and volume
was light.
New lows were over 280 while new
highs were a bit about 75.
And the casino is open for one
more day of summer fun before the weekend.
*****
21 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
We wish a happy summer and longest daylight of the year to all our
readers in the Northern Hemisphere. And
for those of you in the Southern Hemisphere hang on daylight starts increasing
tomorrow. And for those of you on the Equator it’s just the same old same old.
Yesterday was a rest day for the
boys and girls who venture daily into the big Casino. The major measures closed
below their best levels oaf the day but he DJIA was positive. The S$P 50 closed
on support at 1240 for the second day in a row after trying to move higher
through 1260 earlier on Monday and Tuesday.
Overnight Asia
was higher except for Japan
which was basically unchanged. Europe is lower as our
trading begins and U.S.
futures are also flat.
Treasuries are a bit better with
the two-year at 5.19% and the ten-year at 5.14% and gold is off five dollars at
$575 with oil down pennies at $69.27.
*****
Verizon is up 9% from its low last month and we are selling the position at $33.10 for a scratch profit in many
accounts and a small loss (compared to the loss we had) in some of our larger
accounts. Our mistake was not buying the stock correctly i.e. waiting for the
lower price. We are still nervous about the resolution of the Vodaphone holdings
in Verizon Wireless and would rather be on the sidelines. Moreover we are more
comfortable in cash right now and have been wafting for VZ to recover most of
its pullback.
That sale leaves us with our only
holding in most accounts being the Powershares
Pharmaceutical ETF which we are going to hold for the present.
*****
Oil inventories were above
estimates for the latest week, gasoline inventories were below. We aren’t
surprised and those oil CEOs are doing their best.
*****
Two hours into the trading day
and the DJIA is up 100 points with the other major averages following suit. We continue to think that a higher stock
market means the Fed has the all clear to continue raising rates.
*****
The U.S. Senate on Wednesday
defeated a proposal pushed by Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage in
increments from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour by Jan. 1, 2009.
But they are only two votes shy of
getting rid of the estate tax and Republicans are adding a tax break from 35%
to 15% on timberlands to pick up two Democrat votes to push through a compromise
$5 million/ $10 million exemption. That may pass.
Both votes will say a lot about priorities
in the land of greed and consumption.
*****
The S&P 500 is at 1258 up 18
points today as the big boys and girls have some fun. The S&P 500 needs to
get through the 1260 level and the then the next level is 1280. We just don’t
have the conviction to try and participate.
*****
Entering the final hour of
trading the DJIA was up 140 points. we’ll see how they
close.
*****
Oil ended at $70.30 up 96 pennies. Gold was up $10.50 at $591.
Treasuries finished slightly higher in yield with the two-year at
5.20% and the ten-year at 5.15%.
*****
Most European bourses closed
fractionally higher. Brazil
was up 2.5% and Mexico
2%.
*****
The DJIA closed up 104 points at 11080. The S&P 500 gained 12 points at 1252 and the NAZZ rose 34 points to 2141.
Breadth was better than 2/1 positive and volume was brisk. New lows
contracted to 235 but new highs
remained under 100.
And tomorrow is one day closer to
winter as the days begin to shorten. The boys and girls will be at the casino
for playtime and paytime.
*****
19 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
We will be away
tomorrow having our car repaired but will be back on Wednesday for the Wheel of
Fortune.
Happy 37th
birthday to our younger daughter Christine who is riding across the state of
Wisconsin with her mother on a six day 300 mile bike ride.
Just so we know,
several oil company executives were on NBC yesterday explaining why we need
higher oil prices and how they are good for us.
If we didn't have this level
of profitability, I don't think we could get the supplies to where they need to
get to," said the president of Shell Oil Co., John Hofmeister. He
emphasized that the companies are seeking greater access to federal lands and
offshore waters for exploration.
O'Reilly said "profits
are in the midrange" and not as high as they could be, but that if prices were to decrease, the
demand for oil and gas would increase and
supplies could become short. (This
was all said with a smile.)
*****
Overnight Japan
and Hong Kong were fractionally lower while Europe
is higher by 1% or more across the board. Oil is off 70 pennies to $69.18 and
Gold is down 11.40 at $570 in the early going. Treasuries are weaker.
*****
Our guess is that as long as the
stock markets are rising or holding their own that the Fed will be comfortable raising
the Fed funds rate to do its inflation fighting.
*****
We are selling our two-year Treasury notes for a 30 penny loss which is offset by the 40 pennies plus profit
on the five-year we sold a few weeks ago. In hindsight we should have sold
both bonds the day after we purchased them.
With all the Fed speak the
trading is suggesting a move to 5.25% is in the cards and there is growing consensus
that a move to 5.50% or higher is coming this year. We have dipped our toes a couple
of times and pulled back and that has been the right step from a market pricing
standpoint and so we are doing so again.
We earned an effective 5% plus return for the time we were invested in
the notes when the offsetting gain/loss is included.
*****
At noon
the DJIA is down 70 points with breadth 2/1 negative. This is one tough market.
*****
And the revolving door revolves.
Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick is leaving his government job to
become Chairman of Goldman Sachs international advisors business. That’s nice
work if you can get it and he got it.
*****
Oil ended down 83 pennies at $60.05. Gold ended down $11 at $569.
*****
Treasuries were a bit higher in yield at the end with the two-year
at 5.15% and the ten-year at 5.14%.
*****
The DJIA closed down 75 points at 10940. The S&P 500 lost 11 points to end at 1240 and the NAZZ dropped 20 points to 2110. Breadth was almost 3/1 negative and
volume was summer Monday light.
New lows expanded to over 275 and new highs were about 80.
And the Casino will be open for
the rest of the week. The last time we took a day off the markets rallied big
time so the bulls can take heart.
*****
16 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
We like to think that in our
‘salad days’ (A time of youthful inexperience, innocence, or indiscretion from Shakespeare’s
Antony and Cleopatra: "My salad days, / When I was green in
judgment, cold in blood.")
we would have been able to catch the bottom on Tuesday and enjoyed the ride
into Friday.
In reality we would probably have
purchased last Friday and sold on Tuesday and be kicking ourselves for the lack
of conviction.
With more age and money than we had
in our ‘salad days” we have chosen to sit on our cash and watch from the
sidelines, for now at least.
*****
Asia was
on fire overnight with most countries up 2% or more. Europe
is currently more subdued with fractional gains and U.S.
futures are flat.
In early trading Gold is $13 higher
and oil is a bit lower. Treasuries are unchanged.
*****
The COMEX is lowering commodity
margins which they raised a few weeks ago. The locals must be long.
*****
Today is Quadruple witching which
means large volume on the opening and large volume on the closing.
*****
Many brokerages are suggesting bottom fishing Intel now and on any
weakness in second quarter earnings. Citigroup is the latest.
*****
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Indicator Preliminary
number for June was 82 versus May’s 79
and an expected 79.
*****
European bourses finished the
trading day fractionally lower.
*****
Oil ended at $69.90. Gold finished
at $582.50.
*****
Treasuries closed slightly lower with the two-year at 5.16% and the
ten-year at 5.13%.
*****
The DJIA closed unchanged at 11015. The S&P 500 lost 5 points to 1251 and the NAZZ lost 15 points to 2130.
Seven years ago today the DJIA closed at 10784, the S&P 500 at
1330 and the NAZZ at 2517. So much for buy and hold.
Breadth was 2/1 negative and new
lows were over 175 while news highs were about 75.
Volume was active.
The Casino is closed for the
week-end but next week the bulls get to build on their rebound rally if they
can.
*****
15 June 2006 Daily Comment
With yesterday's rally
and today's action we think it is good to remember McNeel's schema:
PRICES
THEN FALL
UP HERE A POINT
STOCKS OR TWO
BACK IN A
AND BUYS DAY OR
BULLISH
TWO AND
TURNS EVERY
TRADER TRADER
AND EVERY
TURNS
OR TWO
BEARISH
IN A DAY
ON THE
OR TWO
MARKET
A POINT
AND
THEY RISE SELLS
THEN STOCKS
DOWN HERE
-BEATING THE STOCK MARKET, R.W.
McNEEL
FIRST PUBLISHED 1921
The above chart is from www.minyanville.com .
*****
14 June 2006 Daily Comment
We
are traveling today and tomorrow but we wanted to comment on the CPI. The core
rate was up 0.3% which was greater than expected. But the markets decided to
rally on the news and the major measures were higher at midday.
We
don't know if this is the beginning of a move higher but we see no reason to
get involved at this time.
Our
next full post will be on Friday June 16.
The
Casino will be open in our absence.
*****
13 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Today should be interesting. Asia
was down big time with India
off 5%, Japan
off 4% and Hong Kong down 2.5%. Europe
is following suit and all the bourses are down 2% plus. Russia
was down 8% but then it may go up 10% tomorrow. Buying Russia
is like paying roulette at the Casino.
Gold is off $19 to $592 and Oil
is down 82 pennies to $69.54
Treasuries are better with the
two-year at 4.98% and the ten-year at 4.95%.
PPI is announced in a few minutes
at 7:30am and it should set the early
trading tone. If PPI is benign a rally may be in the cards. Maybe the elves can
work their magic.
*****
Ouch! Prudential lowered its
target on Intel to $14 (now at $17) and on AMD to $45 from $65.
*****
Goldman Sachs beat estimates and
is trading $1 higher. Traders were expecting more and GS may trade lower after
the official opening. It will be a good tell
for the day on how the trader thinking is going.
*****
May PPI was up 0.2% with 0.4% expected; core was up 0.3% with 0.2% expected. Year over year was up 4.5%.
*****
Today is going to be important from
a trading standpoint. With the NAZZ down 7 days in a row and the rest of the
world following the lead of the U.S.
markets, a rally is needed. And when a rally has been needed over the last three
years it usually has occurred. This is in contrast to 2000 to 2003 when the
rallies never came.
Futures are indicating a slightly
down opening and Treasuries have backed off a little but still are better on
the day. The dollar is showing some strength.
*****
Templeton Russia Fund is down 43%
from its high in early May.
*****
Goldman Sachs is now down $2.50 a
share as the major measures are opening mixed. Commodities remain under
pressure. There must be hedge fund and hot money liquidation continuing to
occur. But the set up for today suggests a rally, especially with many of the
talking heads on CNBC sounding of Gloom and Doom.
We think this will be a rally in a downtrend and we don’t want to trade
it.
*****
The markets opened mixed and then
there was a quick push to the upside which was followed by a reversal. Now at 10am share prices have stabilized a slightly
lower level.
GS is now down $5 and breadth is 3/1 negative but the major
measures are holding fractionally below positive. The push higher should come
today. Friday is a quadruple witching day and with PPI tomorrow we think the
big boys and girls may try to get the rally going this afternoon. They don’t
want to push higher this morning because they may not have the firepower to
hold em higher all day. A rally in the last hour would give some heart to the
overseas markets which have been tanking.
*****
Three hours into the trading
session and gold is down $32 with oil off $1.50. The major measures are back to
the plus side but without much conviction.
*****
Europe closed
over 2% lower on most bourses. Oil
on the NYMEX was off $1.71 to $68.65. Gold lost $44.50 to
$566.80. There have to be some sad faces at a few hedge funds right now.
*****
At 2:20pm
a series of buy programs brought the DJIA from down 75 points to plus
territory. The programs may have been related to expiration but the time of day
of the program buying was the same time as last Thursday. And like last
Thursday when the buy programs ended the markets backed off to negative
territory again only to be moved higher into the closing bell by more programs.
*****
In three minutes the ticks, (a plus tick is when the last
sale is higher than the prior sale, a minus tick is when the last sale is lower
than the prior sale), went from plus 1250 to minus 500. Now that is volatility
and only comes form program trading.
*****
Treasuries closed flat with the
two-year at 5.01% and the ten-year at 4.97%.
*****
Programs couldn’t save the day
and The DJIA closed down 87 points at 10704.
The S&P 500 lost 13 points to 1223
and the NAZZ dropped 18 points to 2072.
Breadth was 3/1 negative on the NYSE and better than 2/1 negative on the NAZZ. New lows exceeded 575 and new highs
were 60. Volume was very active with
almost 3 billion shares on the NYSE just like last Thursday.
The difference this week in the 2:30pm rally that dialed is that breadth and
the new lows were much greater and never improved. With CPI tomorrow the Wheel
of Fortune at the big Casino is going to be spinning for either the bulls or
bears. The bulls made a stand today and we’ll see if they can do better than
they did last week with a rebound rally albeit from lower levels.
*****
12 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Traders are awaiting PPI on
Tuesday and CPI on Wednesday to see which way Uncle Ben is going to go when he
and his band of merry men and women meet at the end of the month to decide on interest
rates. Uncle Ben is giving three speeches this week so folks will have a further
chance to be confused.
Overnight Asia
was mixed to lower with Hong Kong down and Japan up. Europe
is mostly fractionally lower and U.S.
futures are mixed.
Crude oil is up 15 pennies to
$71.70 and gold is down $2 at $610. Treasuries are a bit weaker.
*****
Our favorite guru sees a rally in
the cards with the June Solstice on the 21st as the key pivot point
for a rally into August.
*****
Symantec announced a $2 billion offering of convertible debt along
with a $1.5 billion buyback of stock to mitigate the downward pressure on share
prices that the convertible debt will exert. Borrowing $2 billion to buy back
stock may be smart or not. We would rather see performance move the share price
higher.
*****
We are going to let the SYMC go at $15.65. That price involves a 35
penny loss for larger accounts and a scratch for smaller accounts, but is also
60 pennies better than where it was trading last week. We just don’t like
borrowing money to buy stock.
*****
We are gong to place the proceeds
in the Powershares Pharmaceutical ETF
at $15.83. We have wanted to repurchase PJP for those accounts where we sold it
and the SYMC sale allows us to do so without spending new cash. We traded at a
higher level a few weeks ago but we plan on holding this position and adding to
it in any sell off.
*****
The above chart is from www.minyanville.com .
*****
The United Auto Workers Union had 1.5
million members in 1979. The UAW now has 547,000 members with more to leave
with the Delphi and GM buyouts ahead.
*****
An hour and one half into the
trading day the major measures are slightly lower with breadth 2/1 negative.
The DJIA was been moving plus and minus all morning and currently is down about
10 points. The S&P 500 is at 1250 and may test the 1245 level again today.
*****
Europe closed
lower with many bourses off over 1%. Mexico was down 4.2% and Brazil 3.8%
*****
Oil closed down $1.27 at $70.36 as the first storm of the season
avoided the rigs area of the Gulf of Mexico.
Gold lost $1.50 to $611.30 and Treasuries
were soft with the two-year to 5.01% and the ten-year at 4.99%.
*****
The DJIA closed down 100 points at 10791. The S&P 500 lost 16 points to close at 1236 and the NAZZ
dropped 44 points to 2091 to close lower for the 7th day in a row.
Breadth was 2.5/1 negative. Down
volume exceeded up volume by a 10/1 margin. New lows expanded to over 300 and new highs were 75.
Volume was decent for a summer
Monday.
And tomorrow the economic data
for the week begins to flow and affect trading as PPI is announced. The Wheel
of Fortune will be spinning for some.
*****
9 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Markets around the world rallied
overnight to the tune of up 1% and more. The U.S.
markets are also going to open higher this morning. Gold and oil are higher and
Treasuries are also better in the long maturities.
*****
We were whipsawed yesterday in
our trades and upon reflection overnight we realize that we don’t think the
markets have corrected enough to even give us confidence to hold trading positions.
Yesterday, it was obvious that if the markets were going to stop going down
they had hold the levels to which they had dropped.
We were trying to trade what looked
to be an interim bottom and we discovered that psychologically we were not ready for the risk that it
wasn’t a bottom. Of course this insight came to us after we had initiated
the trades.
Our in and out in the XLK and
PFE involved only scratch losses
except in our very large accounts where the trade loss in XLK bought the day
before wiped out most of our gain in the five-year Treasury that we pocketed last
week. Bear markets have a way of doing that.
And so after yesterday’s vapid
venture we are long Symantec and Verizon in accounts and 90% cash or
Treasuries with a yield of 4.05% & 5%. That is the difference between the
last few years and this year. The yields on cash are nearer to historical
levels and that makes us less inclined to assume much risk until we believe a
true bottom is in place.
*****
There is going to be a rally this
morning and we have no idea how strong it will be. As always time will tell.
*****
Last night Texas Instruments said it will report better than expected earnings
and revenues for the second quarter and the shares are up $1 in the early
going. If we read the release correctly most of the gain in earnings that will
allow TXN to report better than comes from a tax settlement but the street is in a all news
is positive- at least for this morning. Or maybe the shorts are so shaken from
yesterday’s late rally that they are covering on even a hint of positive news.
*****
The Trade Deficit for May was $63.5 billion. Import prices were up 1.6% which was higher than expected.
*****
From:
http://www.comstockfunds.com
Greenspan said this at Jackson Hole
last August: “Thus this vast increase in the market value of asset claims
is in part the indirect result of investors accepting lower compensation for
risk. Such an increase in market value is too often viewed by market
participants as structural and permanent…But what they perceive as newly
abundant liquidity can readily disappear. Any onset of increased investor
caution elevates risk premiums and, as a consequence, lowers asset values and
promotes the liquidation of debt that supported higher asset prices. THIS IS THE REASON THAT HISTORY HAS NOT
DEALT KINDLY WITH THE AFTERMATH OF PROTRACTED PERIODS OF LOW RISK PREMIUMS.” (Bold and Caps are ours).
*****
Floyd Norris’ Column in the NYT Published: June 9, 2006
In part had this to say today:
AMONG some Americans, it is almost an article of
faith that the Consumer Price Index understates inflation — there are conspiracy
theories about why that happens. After all, holding down the C.P.I. saves the
government money in a variety of ways and hurts those with pension or Social
Security benefits linked to the index.
But you don't have to
be a conspiracy theorist to conclude that in the last decade, an important part
of the index has been understated. That is the housing component.
Since 1983, the government has measured the price
of homes not by looking at house prices but by computing what it calls
"owner's imputed rent." That is the rental value of the house you
own. It accounts for nearly a quarter of the entire Consumer Price Index.
When the change was made, the government provided
statistics indicating that previous inflation rates would not have been very
different under the new method, and that remained true until 1996.
Since then the home price index maintained by the
Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight
has doubled, while the imputed rent figure has risen by less than a third.
Had the government computed the Consumer Price
Index using actual home prices since 1996, I estimate that it would have risen
by an average of 4.1 percent a year, as opposed to the 2.5 percent reported.
The core rate — inflation excluding food and energy costs — would be 4.2
percent, not 2.2 percent.
Perhaps the Federal Reserve was too hesitant to
raise rates, and thus allowed speculative bubbles to form, because it was
seeing inflation through rose-tinted glasses.
But now the problem could be the opposite. If
the housing boom is ending, rental costs may start to catch up with house
prices. The reported inflation rate would be higher than the real rate, at
least to people who say the best way to measure home prices is by measuring home
prices. (Our italics and bold)
To be sure, some economists like the rental
gauge, saying it measures consumption spending. Others think that the best
measure is mortgage payments. When interest rates were declining, those rose
slower than home prices but faster than imputed rents...
*****
He’s been reading our stuff as you read it here first in The Lemley
Letter. We’ve been writing on this subject for years and below is the latest
example:
From the 5 June 2006 Daily Comment
... and
it reiterates that the housing component of the CPI has been understating
housing costs because it uses rental costs. And it is why we presume the leaders of
the numbers crunchers will soon decide that housing costs are a better measure
than apartment rental costs. When one realizes that Social Security and
myriad other labor contracts depend on the CPI for wage adjustments it is
obvious that keeping that CPI increase low (whether they are real or not) has significant
ramification for the economy and employers profits.
*****
An hour and one half into the
trading day the major measures are higher with breadth 2/1 positive. Traders
aren’t breaking down the doors to buy stocks today. Today’s action may imply
that yesterday’s rally may have been short covering more than new buying.
*****
The two-year Treasury is at 5.01%,
ten-year at 4.98% and the thirty-year at 5.03%. Those yields suggest recession or aggressive traders/short covering on
the long end.
*****
Texas Instruments is now trading lower on the day.
*****
Entering the last two hours of
trading for the week the major measures are now lower and breadth which was 2/1
positive has turned negative.
*****
Crude oil ended up $1.25 at $71.60. Gold finished at $608.80 down $4.
Treasuries closed the day with the two-year at 5%, the ten-year at
4.98% and the thirty –year at 5.03%.
*****
The DJIA closed down 46 points at 10891. The S&P 500 lost 5 points to end at 1252 and the NAZZ dropped 10 points to 2135.
Breadth was positive on the NYSE and negative on the NAZZ.
There were 125 new lows and 95 new highs. Volume
was brisk.
And the Casino is shuttered for
the week-end to sweep up losing tickets from the carnage of the week. But PPI
and CPI arrive next week along with quadruple witching so it should be a fun
time as traders spin their Wheels of Fortune.
*****
8 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Happy 39th birthday to our daughter Lisa.
*****
Al Zarqawi is dead. Some Iraqi
made a lot of money. We wonder if he’ll get to spend it.
We don’t know what effect the
death will have on the markets, but we will know soon enough. So far the futures
are following the rest of the world and that is down big time, which is where the markets were before the
announcement and the drops were related to the raising of Central Bank rates in
Europe and South Korea
and probably some emerging market hedge fund selling.
Asia was down
2% to 4% across the board and Europe is down about 2%
with Russia
down 5%. Oil is off $1 to $69.84, gold is down $9 to $624 and Treasuries are better
on the flight to quality trade.
With the action of the markets
and the better Treasuries we would guess that there is some thought in traders’
minds of terrorist retribution for the killing.
*****
The European Central Bank raised
interest rates by 25 basis points to 2.75% on Thursday. The action was expected.
The Bank of England did not raise and held at 4.50%.
*****
Jobless claims were 302,000 which
is a larger drop in claims than expected.
*****
The dollar is doing better today.
*****
Minyanville had this on their
site as a warning not to celebrate a trade until the money is in your pocket.
Watch the video of the fellow jumping the car.
http://www.vidilife.com
*****
Citigroup cut its earnings
estimates on Intel and AMD for the
2006 and 2007. It maintains a hold on AMD and a buy on Intel.
*****
An hour into the trading session
the S&P 500 is at its two hundred day moving average, breadth is 3/1 negative
and the Treasury ten-year is under 5% while the two-year is at 5%. We are
buying a bit more XLK for additional accounts at 19.95 and we are adding Pfizer
to our larger accounts. The S&P 500 is at support and we are making a few
trading buys in relatively conservative issues.
The XLK is a means of participating in the big cap tech stocks that are
taking gas right now without having to pick just one or two. Pfizer is in the process of selling the
over the counter drug business and we think it may get a pop on the news. It
yields 4%.
*****
Two hours into the trading day
and the selling is intensifying wit the DJIA down 175 points and the S&P
500 at 1241 which is below the 1245 number that we thought might hold since it
was support. Breadth is a dismal at 4/1 negative. And down volume exceeds up
volume by a 10/1 margin. If the bulls are going to make a stand they had better
do it now. We haven’t seen a day like this for a while. And if the markets
don’t rally today tomorrow and Monday could be very interesting. We are pulling
back into our shell.
*****
The sell off in stocks has
created a strong rally in the treasury market with the two-year down t 4.97%
and the ten-year at 4.95%.
*****
Oil ended down 52 pennies at $70.30. Gold was down $19 at $614.
*****
Treasuries rallied on the long end and the two-year closed at 5.01%
and the ten-year at 4.99%.
*****
We sold our trades in PFE and XLK in the final hour when the
markets rallied to the plus side about 2:15pm
and then faded. We didn’t like the
action and discretion suggested we head to the sidelines. When the rally ran
out of steam up 15 points we sold.
After we sold the major measures
staged a last thirty minutes rally which may carry over into tomorrow morning
but we were already on the sidelines. Our timidity suggests we aren’t ready to
commit to any more than a trade.
On the trades today it was a
scratch loss involving commission costs but on the XLK we bought yesterday in
our large/aggressive accounts the loss was 50 cents a share. No one ever said
this would be easy. We would rather go home with the cash in accounts than
those two trade items and the discipline is to keep a trade as a trade. We still
own SYMC and VZ to own, not to trade.
*****
In case you were wondering: Top White House economist Edward Lazear on
Thursday played down concerns about recent declines in U.S. stock prices and weakness in the U.S.
dollar. "Volatility is not unusual in the stock market," Lazear told
a conference call to discuss the release of new White House forecasts on the U.S. economy. "We don't think of this as
being particularly alarming."
*****
The DJIA closed up 12 points at 10942. The S&P 500 gained 2 points to end at 1258 and the NAZZ dropped 5 points to 2147.
Breadth was 2/1 negative and Volume
was big time exceeding 3 billion shares on the NYSE.
New lows expanded to 400 while new highs were about 80.
The rally from down 200 points
ran out of steam but was still impressive. Tomorrow is Friday and it will be
interesting to see whether traders want to go home long or flat over the
week-end. We made our decision today to beat the rush.
Join us tomorrow for the last day
of spinning the Wheel of Fortune for the week.
*****
7 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
The rally that began I the final half hour Tuesday is going to carry over into
this mornings opening. After that it is anybody’s guess.
Japan
and Hong Kong and most of Asia were
down 1% to 2% overnight. The Shanghai stock market was shanghaied overnight and dropped over 5% in value. The Nikkei hit
its lowest level since last November as it dropped 1.8%.
Au Contraire, Europe
is up fractionally across the board.
Investors Intelligence numbers
for the week show 40% bulls and 31% bears. These are sentiment levels
from which rallies have occurred over the past few months. Since the talking
heads and other gurus are looking for and excuse for rallying the new sentiment
numbers may be a starting point.
The U.S.
has made a more conciliatory offer to Iran
to get them to the negotiating table and there is hope that Iran
will choose to talk. That would be a positive for the markets since the last
spike up in oil over $70 was occasioned by the Iran/
U.S. imbroglio
over nuclear materials.
A drop in the price of oil should
be a positive although in the last few weeks as oil moved higher the bulls were
saying that the Fed would view the high price of oil as an additional governor
on the economy and thus be able to pause at 55. Now that oil is going back down
under $70 we presume that story will change to the drop in the price of oil
reduces inflationary pressures. Of course oil itself is excluded form the core
CPI number. If it weren’t the Fed would be raising rates 50 basis points at a
time rather the measured 25 they have been.
In early trading oil is down 56
pennies to $71.54 and Gold is down anther $12 to $622. Treasuries are a bit
weaker.
*****
Symantec announced an agreement with IBM that provides for the
delivery of Symantec high availability, storage management, and backup products
for the Linux on POWER(TM) platform by the end of 2006. These solutions will help clients
consolidate Linux applications on the IBM System p(TM) platform, leveraging the
benefits of IBM's leading System p hardware platform and Symantec's leading
data center infrastructure software.
*****
Potential market moving economic
numbers are next Tuesday when the Producer Price Index (PPI) and Retail sales
are announced followed by the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday.
Today oil inventories are announced and tomorrow there are weekly jobless claims.
*****
The WSJ reports today that Standard & Poor’s says it may downgrade
the debt of the United States in 2012 and then further in 2025 if
the conditions that currently exist don’t improve. www.minyanville.com makes the point that
if S&P sees conditions that require a downgrade they should do so now as a
warning and then if those conditions don’t occur they can upgrade. After all,
ratings services are warning agencies and acting after the fact offers no added
value. But S&P doesn’t want to absorb the political heat that would come
from a current downgrade.
*****
Oil and gasoline inventories came
in higher than expected. Crude oil is down $1.30 to $71.20 on the news.
*****
A couple of hours into the trading
day and the major measures remain higher will steady sustained buying moving
stocks slowly higher. Breadth is improving and is now 2/1 positive.
We bought XLK the Technology ETF in our very large accounts for a trade off 1255
S&P 500 support, we hope. To remind all the XLK the top ten holdings are 12%
MSFT, 7% INTC, 6% IBM, 5% CSCO, 5% T, 4% VZ, 4% HPQ, 4% QCOM, 3% DELL and 3% S.
We also added shares of SYMC to smaller accounts that didn’t
own any.
*****
Consumer Credit rose $10 billion in April when a rise of $500
million was expected.
*****
With an hour and one half to go
the major measures are now mixed in desultory trading. Breadth is almost flat.
Oil is lower and Treasuries are also.
*****
Oil ended at $70.62 down $1.68 and gold closed at $634.
Treasuries flattened with the two-year at 5.01% and the ten-year at 5.02%.
*****
At the bell the DJIA was down 68 points at 10935. The S&P 500 lost 8 points to 1255 and
the NAZZ was off 11 points at 1251.
Breadth was flat on the day and volume was moderate.
There were 175 new lows and 100 new highs.
And there are two more days to
spin the Wheel of Fortune this week.
*****
6 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
U.S.
futures are higher this morning after yesterday’s shellacking. As part of the
process, down early would be better than up early but the markets are what the
markets are.
Overseas was down with Japan
closing off 1.8% and Europe down over 1% across the
board. And Oil is off a few m pennies with gold down almost $10 at $639.
IBM is going to invest $6 billion
in India. Last
week GM announced it would invest $3 billion in Russia.
And the American economy thanks both companies for their concern. But that is
capitalism and money goes where it is treated well and where the greatest
profit potential lies.
Treasuries are backing up again
this morning with the two-year at 5% and the five-year at 4.97%. It should be
an interesting month in the Treasury trading market. The St. Louis Fed’s William
Poole says that inflation expectations trump all. He makes a good twin to Moscow’s
aggressive stance on inflation.
*****
Stocks opened higher but less
than one half hour into today’s spin of the Wheel of Fortune the major measures
have turned lower. Breadth is also negative and new lows are outpacing new
highs.
*****
Brazil
and Mexico were
down over 3% yesterday and are off 1% this morning. As the U.S.
markets move lower Europe is extending its losses with
most bourses down over 1.5%
*****
The two-year Treasury and the
ten-year Treasury are both at 5% and yields are lower in between.
*****
At 1pm
the DJIA is down 91 points and the bulls are going to have to get the rally
going soon or time will run out today.
*****
Gold fell $14 to finish at $634.70 in New
York on Tuesday. Oil
also ended ten pennies lower at $72.50.
*****
Treasuries were mixed with the short end higher in yield and the
long end lower in yield. In effect the
curve is flat with the two-year at 4.98% and the ten-year at 5%.
*****
Late in the day Fed Governor
Hoenig said that inflation is near the top of the range bout still in the
comfort zone. We are glad to know that. Do you think these folks Blackberry each other with their
comments before they make them?
*****
The bulls managed a late rally to cut the losses for the day in half. The
DJIA closed down 50 spins at 11000. The
S&P 500 ended down 2 at 1263. The NAZZ
lost another 7 points to end at 2163.
Volume was brisk and new
lows expanded to over 250 while new highs contracted to 80. Breadth was better today but still 2/1
negative.
And there are three more days
left in the trading week and two more Fed governors left to speak this week on
inflation. The bulls need help but when all looks bleak it is good to remember
it can get even bleaker.
*****
5 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Oil is over $73 this morning as Iran
has threatened to cut off its oil supplies if the Western Allies mess with its
nuclear ambitions. The posturing on both sides reminds of high school prom
king/queen contests. This whole Iran
imbroglio is like living in an old movie.
*****
We finally planted our garden
over the week-end.
*****
Hong Kong
was up fractionally and Japan
was off fractionally overnight with the rest of Asia
mixed. Europe is also mixed this morning and Treasuries
are flat with gold up $9 to $550.
*****
We read the item immediately
below on www.rrealmoney.com and it
reiterates that the housing component of the CPI has been understating housing
costs because it uses rental costs. And it is why we presume the leaders of the
numbers crunchers will soon decide that housing costs are a better measure than
apartment rental costs. When one realizes that Social Security and myriad other
labor contracts depend on the CPI for wage adjustments it is obvious that
keeping that CPI increase low (whether they are real or not) has significant
ramification for the economy and employers profits.
The
inflation doves have all kinds of reasons why an acceleration of inflation
shouldn't matter to the economy, to the market or to the Fed (not that you can
ever really separate the three in the intermediate-term anyway). They'll tell
us that the only reason the inflation gauges are showing acceleration is
because the housing market's cooled and that is pushing up demand for rents,
and rents are an over weighted input in the CPI.
Aside from
how that logic basically admits that the CPI's been understating inflation
during the extended housing boom, I fail to see why I'm supposed to feel better
when the rent component of CPI is showing accelerating inflation. It's not like
inflation is sum zero.
*****
Over the week-end we were thinking about the employment statistics released
on Friday. There are about 300 million residents in the United States. According to the statistics released
there are 228 million potential workers. 155 million are actively seeking jobs.
Of those, 144 million or less than half of the population is employed and 7
million are unemployed. 78 million up from 77 million last month are not looking
for jobs.
The average hourly wage is $16.44 which works out to about $28,000 on
the 33 hour work week which is the norm. That means that the average worker in
the country makes less than $30,000 a year for a full week’s work. That is not encouraging,
to say the least. We couldn’t find the median number for hourly wages but we
would bet it is lower than the$16.44 of the average wage. We did find older
data from http://watchingthewatchers.org/story/2006/5/21/18335/9821
that says that Census Bureau data
show median family income -- half of families have income greater than the
median, half have less -- fell 3.6% from 2000 through 2004. Incomes for the
poorest families fell even further. The only group to gain was the family at
the 95th percentile -- that is, richer than 95% of all families. Data for 2005
are unavailable.
*****
Saudi
Arabia’s oil output has declined in recent
months. The Saudi oil minister attributes that occurrence to a drop in demand
and not to any effort to cut production by the Saudis.
*****
We sold the five-year Treasuries we purchased on Thursday for a 48
pennies gain. That profit represents a bit more than five months interest
versus what we can earn on cash and be in the same position. Bernanke talks
this afternoon and we would rather lock in a trading profit on the longer bonds
and hold the two-year notes we bought at the same time. We think there is up
and down action to come in the weeks running up to the late June 27/28 Fed
meeting and even afterwards. That’s because it is by no means certain that the
Fed will stop at 5%. Our guess is that they are going to 5.25%.
*****
ISM Services Index was 60.1 in
May versus 63 in April.
*****
More facts about the
misinformation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) were suggested by an article
on www.minyanville.com. The Consumer
Price Index doesn’t take into account the rising co-payments and increased
deductibles when computing the Medical cost aspect of CPI. Housing costs use
equivalent rents which we mentioned above but deducts from that value higher heating
costs so that higher energy prices actually causes the housing component to drop
and thus lowers core CPI. Say what?
*****
In early afternoon at 1pm it seems the big boys and girls are taking
the day off as the major measures have been sliding lower all day in moderate
trading. Uncle Ben has not yet spoken. The DJIA is down 113 points and breadth
is 2/1 negative.
*****
Uncle Ben says the Fed has to
remain vigilant. His arguments today
really suggest a stagflation scenario although we are sure he doesn’t mean to
imply that outcome. We are happy to have sold the five-year although the short
end is surrendering more yields ground with the two-year at 4.95% up from 4.91%
on Friday.
*****
Europe
closed lower.
*****
The major measures are still
going down more easily than they rise.
*****
Gold closed at $648 and Oil at $72.75.
*****
Treasuries gave ground with the two-year at 4.97%, the five-year at
4.94% and the ten-year at 5.02%. Inversion and flattening are occurring at the
same time. That kind of action means that traders are expecting inflation and
slowdown.
*****
The DJIA closed down 195 points at 11052. The S&P 500 lost 23 points to end at 1265 and the NAZZ dropped 50 points to 2170. Breadth was 3.5/1 negative and new highs and new lows were about equal .Volume was summer Monday light.
And there are four more days of
trading left at the Casino for the week. We’ll be here.
*****
2 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
As we begin the last trading day
of the week traders are awaiting the May Employment Report due out in an hour
at 7:30am. An increase of 140,000 or
less will be bullish for bonds and stocks since traders will take those lower
numbers as a hope for a Fed pause. Now it really doesn’t make sense that stocks
should rally on low job creation since it would indicate a slowing of the
economy. And if the Fed is going to pause and/or begin lowering rates that also
should be a negative for stocks. But since the markets are only looking about
one week ahead instead of the usual six months any pause may be a short term positive
for stocks.
The shortness of the forward look
is a symptom of the domination of current markets by hedge funds and other
casino types. It has been that way since 1997 and will remain so for the
foreseeable future until a great washout-- which may never come. The natures of
the markets have changed. That’s a fact, jack.
Our guru’s scenario for the
summer is akin to our scenario in that he expects a top in
the next week or so and then a pullback to mid June with a good trading rally
from the third week in June, along with a potential, more important top than
the May top, and then a decline from the end of August to an October low.
That forecast
is not unique in that we are of the same opinion and the occurrence of the
described price action has happened more often than not over the yeas in the
May to October period.
*****
With our just purchased Treasury position in accounts at a 5% yield we
are content to watch from the sidelines with a little trading to keep the juices
flowing and interest peeked but we will not be making any major moves until the
September/October period, if at all.
*****
Overnight Japan
and Hong Kong were both up over 1.5% ending their
trading weeks on a strong note and Europe is following
suit. Treasuries are flat ahead of the Employment Report and Gold is up 42.50
to $636 and Oil is up 75 pennies at $71.09.
*****
75,000 jobs were created in May,
the lowest since last October and March and April job creation were also
revised lower. On that news Treasuries rallied and stocks gave some ground. And
so initially both areas of the markets reacted as they should have from an
historical perspective. Moreover the shortfall in job creation was much greater
than all but the gloomiest thought. Maybe the hedgies and big boys and girls
are on a long week-end.
*****
The Russian Ruble has risen to a
six year high against the dollar. The ruble is up 7% this year. What has the
world come to when speculators would want to own rubles instead of dollars?
Supposed the ruble is to be allowed to flat freely on July 1.
*****
An hour into the trading day the
major measures are mixed with the DJIA down (IBM is down $1.50) and the S&P
500 and NAZZ higher. Breadth is 2/1 positive on the NYSE and flat on the NAZZ.
*****
Four more top executives of the
Las Vegas Sands, which owns the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino, received
more than they should have. The total in excess bonus payments for the five
men was $2.8 million.
The compensation committee of the board conceded
that it had made an error. But it said
that "the outstanding performance of the company in 2005" justified
the extra money, and it allowed the executives to keep it.
Shareholders of Las Vegas Sands did not fare as
well. The value of their holdings fell 18 percent last year.
*****
Approaching the noon hour the major market measures are mixed
and breadth has turned negative while Treasuries continue to rally.
*****
Oil closed up $1.99 at $72.33. Gold
was up $7.50 at $641.
Treasuries rallied all day and finished on their highs with the
ten-year at 5% and the two-year at 4.91%. The five-year ended at 4.90%. What a
difference a day makes.
*****
The online ad market is going to
generate $29 billion in revenue this year. What a waste.
*****
At the bell the DJIA was down 15 points to 11245. The S&P 500 gained 2 points to 1288 and
the NAZZ lost 1 point to end at 2218.
Breadth was 2/1 positive on the NYSE and flat on the NAZZ. There were 200
new highs and 95 new lows. Volume
was active.
And the casino is closed for the
week-end but there will be a full week of fun next week.
*****
1 June 2006 Daily Comment
Thoughts
Japan was up fractionally overnight while Hong Kong was down 1.3%. European bourses are large fractions lower in the early going and U.S.
futures are mixed.
Treasuries are weaker again by a few ticks and gold is down $13.50 at $535 and oil is down 51 pennies at $70.78.
*****
There will not be strikes at Delta or Alcoa as agreements with the
pilots and steelworkers respectively have been reached.
*****
First Quarter Non farm productivity was 3.7% versus
3.9%. Unit labor costs 1.6% versus
1.8%. Initial jobless claims were 336,000.
*****
Institute of Supply Management May Manufacturing Index besides being alliterative was 54 versus
an expected 55. The Prices Paid Index was 77 versus and expected 74.
Pending Home Sales for April were
down 3.7%.
*****
Treasuries popped over 5% yesterday on the release of the May Fed
minutes.
We have had 5% in our minds for a
while and so we once again have purchased the two year but we also purchased a
five year with a 5% coupon. We bought bonds for all we bought before and placed
one half in the two-year maturity and one half the money in the five-year. Since
the five year is a Feb/Aug payer there will be a good chunk of accrued interest
on the purchase which we will receive back in August.
Our thoughts remain that the
economy is slowing and the markets will eventually roll over. There will be
some sort of panic situation this fall at which time the Treasuries will rally and stocks will drop
and we will have the opportunity to switch if we so choose.
If we are wrong and the Fed does
keep raising rates to 6% we will then switch the two year position to four or
five years for lesser dollar price so that we will pick up the 6% yield by
extending the maturity. We really don’t think the Fed is going past 5.25% for a
while and are betting that they will stop at 5% on Fed funds till after the
election.
In the meantime we will be receiving
a decent return for ourselves and clients.
*****
General Motors overall sales were down 15% when down 10% were
expected. Ford sales were down 6% which
was better than expected. Toyota overall
sales were up 12%.
*****
Near the close Oil was down 95 pennies at $70.34. Gold was down $625. Treasuries were unchanged.
*****
The DJIA closed up 90 points at 11260. The S&P 500 was up 15 points at 1285 and the NAZZ gained 38 points to 2215. Volume
was active.
Breadth was 2/1 positive and new
highs bested new lows 160 to 130.
And there is one more day to spin
the Wheel of Fortune this week.
*****
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Summary of Business Continuity Plan
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