Fed raises interest rates by 25 basis points as expected; market convinces itself that the Fed is talking “Pause soon”
The Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates Wednesday by 25 basis points, as expected. That brings the Fed’s benchmark interest rate to a range of 4.50% to 4.75%, the highest level since October 2007. After a pullback on the news and the Fed’s...
Please Watch My YouTube Video: Now It’s May for the Fed’s Pause
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-thirty-first YouTube video: Now It’s May for the Fed’s Pause Today’s topic is: Now It’s May for the Fed’s Pause. There wasn’t a lot of suspense about today’s Fed meeting. The CME FedWatch...
Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Trend of the Week Watch the Yuan
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-thirtieth YouTube video: Trend of the Week Watch the Yuan This week’s Trend of the Week: Watch the Yuan. China controls one of the two largest treasury portfolios in the world, and the strength of the yuan affects treasuries...
Gold is back and I like the shiny metal as risk of a debt ceiling crisis increases–here’s how I’d play gold now
With the Federal Reserve seemingly winding down its cycle of interest rate increases, a stronger dollar is no longer the big currency market story. Gold is. Gold is back. And for at least the next 3 to 6 months. The likely political chaos in Washington over raising...
Sell any post-Fed rally–stocks are way ahead of themselves on the Fed, interest rates, and inflation
Here’s what I expect on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee will announce a 25 basis-point interest rate increase. In his post-meeting press conference Fed chair Jerome Powell will try to talk the financial markets out of their...
General Motors reports record revenue in fourth quarter and big beat on earnings
General Motors (GM) shares are up 8.34% as of the close today after the company reported a huge jump in earnings for the fourth quarter and the full year. For the quarter the car company reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.12 versus an expected $1.69, and...
GM investment pops shares of Lithium Americas by 14.60% today
Along with announcing a big earnings beat today, General Motors (GM) reported that it will invest $650 million in Lithium Americas to help fund the development of that company’s Thacker Pass lithium mine in Nevada. The Thjacker Pass mine is projected to be the...
Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Microsoft
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twenty-ninth YouTube video: Quick Pick Microsoft This week’s Quick Pick: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Microsoft came out with earnings on Tuesday (shortly after filming this video). The earnings were expected to be disappointing as...
Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Trend of the eek Speculation and Investing
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twenty-seventh YouTube video: Trend of the Week Speculation and Investing This week’s Trend of the Week: Speculation and Investing. Prior to the bank earnings and guidance numbers being released a week ago, the market was on the...
Wall Street has second thoughts on yesterday’s Microsoft earnings
Yesterday, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) rose by more than 4.6% on an earnings report for the December quarter that showed the company slightly beating analyst estimates on earnings and training only slightly on revenue. Today, investors and traders had second thoughts....
So it begins: Treasury announces first deferrals to stave off debt ceiling crisis
The federal government hit the official debt ceiling today. Which means the Treasury Department can’t sell more bonds to raise cash t pay the government’s bills. Unless it finds a way to finesse the debt limit. The first steps of an effort that Treasury...
Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Sell UUP
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twenty-sixth YouTube video: Quick Pick Sell UUP This week’s Quick Pick: Sell UUP–the dollar ETF. I had the Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (NYSEARCA: UUP) in my portfolio through 2022 while the dollar was doing...
Economy down but stocks up? Remember that the economy doesn’t equal the stock market
This may seem perplexing: Alphabet (AKA Google) announced that it would cut 12,000 jobs just days after Microsoft (MSFT) said it would cut 10,000 jobs. And stocks, especially technology stocks, rallied. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed up 1.89% today and...
China’s population fell in 2022 for the first time in six decades
I don’t think has implications for your portfolio tomorrow, but it’s hard (short of global warming) to think of a trend that will be more important for your portfolio in the long run. On Tuesday, January 17, China’s government announced that the...
Will Netflix earnings on Thursday shock the market?
Right now Wall Street analysts project that on Thursday, January 19, Netflix (NFLX) will report earnings of just 44 cents a share for the fourth quarter of 2022. That would be a huge drop from the $1.33 the company reported in the fourth quarter of 2021. If Netflix...
Microsoft reportedly plans to cut 11,000 jobs; this is a serious indicator for the economy
Granted these are all reports from outside news sources but there are a number of them. Where there’s smoke there might well be fire. U.K. broadcaster Sky News has reported that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce or about 11,000 roles. Bloomberg...
Start your debt ceiling crisis clock running NOW!
The Biden administration will act starting on January 19 to reprioritize federal funds in order to put off a debt ceiling crisis until June, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellin told Congress in a letter today. The “extraordinary measures” which should be old...
Stocks can’t quite decide what to make of today’s CPI inflation report
Inflation, measured by the headline CPI (Consumer Price Index) fell 0.1% in December versus November. That brought the annual headline inflation rate to 6.5%. That was exactly what a consensus of economists was looking for. The core DPI, which strips out more volatile...
3 Retail Stocks Say Bah, Humbug to Christmas Sales
Disappointing holiday sales and margin pressures. Not a good combination for any stock. And today shares of Macy’s (M), down 6.39% as of 2 p.m. New York time; Lululemon (LULU, down 9.01%, and Chico’s FAS (CHS) down 9.41% are paying the price for...
Apple’s plans for AR headset point to fewer product launches than usual in 2023
News, rumor, and speculation from the Consumer Electronics Show point to a second half of 2023 launch for Apple’s (AAPL) AR “metaverse” headset. Apple has been “launching” this high-performance AR headset since 2017 but plans for a launch...
Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Trend of the Week Watch Credit Card Debt After Christmas
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twenty-first YouTube video: Trend of the Week Watch Credit Card Debt After Christmas This week’s Trend of the Week: Watch Credit Card Debt After Christmas. Christmas is a huge anomaly when it comes to the stock market and...
Please Watch My New YouTube Video: Quick Pick Watch Tesla
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twenty-first YouTube video: Quick Pick Watch Tesla This week’s Quick Pick isn’t a “buy,” it’s a “watch.” Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) saw its stock down 37% in December–not for the year, but in...
Stocks rise as investors decide slowing wage gains outweigh higher than expected job growth
At the close today, the Standard & Poor’s 500 was up 2.28% to 38905. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 2.12%. The NASDAQ Composite was higher by 2.56% and the NASDAQ 100 was ahead 2.78%. All this on the heels of a December jobs report from the...
More bad news from Europe strikes at heart of Meta’s Facebook business
On Wednesday, January 4, European Union regulators decided that Facebook and Instagram, both properties of Meta Platforms (META), had illegally forced users to accept personalized ads. The fine of 390 million euros ($314 million) isn’t by any means the most...
Please watch my new YouTube video: Everybody (Well, Almost Everybody) Hates 2023
Today I posted my two-hundred-and-twentieth YouTube video: Everybody (Well, Almost Everybody Hates 2023 (Almost) everybody hates 2023. We’re just four days into 2023 and we’ve already had some negative reporting come from the IMF, (International Monetary...
Stocks stumble on interest rate fears ahead of Friday’s big December jobs report
U.S. stock indexes finished lower today, Thursday, January 5, on news that pointed to solid job growth and hawkish comments on interest rates from the Federal Reserve. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed down 1.16% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished...
It’s too soon to buy Tesla–stock drops another 12% on delivery “miss”
Tesla (TSLA) can’t win for winning. On Monday, while U.S. markets were, fortunately, closed, the company reported record quarterly deliveries for the fourth quarter of 2022 of 405,278 cars. Unfortunately, Tesla had convinced Wall Street to look for delivery of...
Bad news for 2023 from the IMF
Happy new year from the International Monetary Fund! The new year is going to be “tougher than the year we leave behind,” IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said on CBS on Sunday morning. “We expect one-third of the world economy to be in recession. Even...
Friday jobs report coming up
It’s deja vu all over again as New York stock markets reopen for trading tomorrow. We ended 2022 waiting for the monthly jobs report from the Labor Department to tell us when slower job growth would signal the potential end to the Federal Reserve’s cycle...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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