EDITOR'S CHOICE
Lack Of Industrial Momentum Is (For Now) Big-Auto Problem
Article By:
Jeffrey P. Snider
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Thursday, August 17, 2017 4:47 PM EDT
Industrial Production disappointed in the US last month, dragged down by auto production. Despite the return of an oil sector tailwind, IP was up just 2.2% year-over-year in July 2017, according to Federal Reserve statistics.
Signs That Investors May Be Shying Away From Indiscriminate Risk
Article By:
Gary Gordon
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Wednesday, August 16, 2017 2:58 PM EDT
The percentage of stocks holding above a 200-day moving average is declining. This implies weak breadth across the stock universe where fewer and fewer names are holding up the big-name benchmarks.
Three ETFs For Floating Rate Bank Loans
Article By:
Brad Zigler
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Tuesday, August 15, 2017 1:51 PM EDT
Does it seem like interest rates have trebled over the last two years? Well, short-term commercial lending rates certainly have. I have selected three bank loan exchange-traded funds focused on U.S. high yield paper.
World GDP In Current U.S. Dollars Seems To Have Peaked; This Is A Problem
Article By:
Gail Tverberg
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Monday, August 14, 2017 12:44 PM EDT
What has been concerning for the last couple of years is that World GDP is no longer growing robustly. In fact, it may even have started shrinking, with 2014 being the peak year.
Losing Economic Trade
Article By:
Jeffrey P. Snider
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Monday, August 14, 2017 12:35 PM EDT
The oil effect continued to recede in late spring for more than just WTI prices or inflation rates. US trade on both sides, inbound and outbound, while still positive has stalled since the winter. Exports grew by just 6.2% in June 2017.
Bitcoin Has No Yield, But Gold Does
Article By:
Keith Weiner
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Monday, August 14, 2017 8:39 AM EDT
Gold offers an arbitrage that is not available in bitcoin. As gold is a physical good, there are businesses that do things to transform its purity, shape, and location.
Autonomous Cars - Issues Yet To Be Addressed
Article By:
Craig Brown
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Friday, August 11, 2017 9:25 PM EDT
Auto insurers are facing an unprecedented change over the next decade or so, so if you are invested in them make sure they are preparing for the new future. Product liability, cyber risk, car sales - all these areas could profoundly change.
The Cuban Missile Crisis – Lessons For Investors
Article By:
Lars Christensen
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Friday, August 11, 2017 8:28 AM EDT
Based on the Cuban experience, investors would be well advised to ignore the geopolitical reality show. Instead, they should focus on the growth outlook for nominal earnings – in other words, on nominal GDP. The leader to watch is Janet Yellen.
The Rise Of Zombie Companies — And Why It Matters
Article By:
Mises Institute
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Wednesday, August 9, 2017 4:49 AM EDT
The rise of zombie companies is not a good thing. Zombification does not boost job creation or buy time, it is a perverse incentive that delays the recovery.
If You Own Stocks You’re A Value (And Growth) Investor
Article By:
Cullen Roche
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Monday, August 7, 2017 5:04 PM EDT
Entrepreneurs and good business owners pretty much always believe their business is selling below its intrinstic value and will provide growth in the future.
Almost Ten Years And Still Nits To Pick
Article By:
Jeffrey P. Snider
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Friday, August 4, 2017 8:04 PM EDT
Shorts or not, the fact that repo fails were happening and to such a degree was what really mattered. Eliminating the happy narrative was simply a matter of realizing that nobody sensible would really need to be short cash UST’s.
Non-Farm Friday: Is Our America Working?
Article By:
Phil Davis
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Friday, August 4, 2017 10:42 AM EDT
209,000 jobs. That's pretty good, only 183,000 new jobs were expected and June was revised up by 9,000 more jobs (231,000) with unemployment now down to 4.3%.
In this article: SPX
Market Valuation, Inflation And Treasury Yields - Clues From The Past
Article By:
Jill Mislinski
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Thursday, August 3, 2017 1:40 PM EDT
US stock indexes are significantly overvalued, which suggests cautious expectations on investment returns. In a "normal" market environment -- one with conventional business cycles, current valuation levels would be a serious concern.
Let’s Talk About “Maximizing Shareholder Value”
Article By:
Cullen Roche
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Wednesday, August 2, 2017 3:56 PM EDT
Maximizing shareholder value might not seem like a controversial idea, but many argue it leads corporations to do bad things like overpay executives, issue options-based compensation, buy back shares or pay workers too little, etc