13 May 2005

Posted at 16:27h in The Friday Brief by
Evidence of short term price pressures continue to arise here and there.  The government reported this morning that imported goods rose in April at twice the expected rate, led by higher costs of automobiles, oils, and steel.  The increase follows a gain of 2% in March, the largest in 14 years.  Most of the rise was in the goods used to make other goods.  But, as we mentioned last week, commodity prices (used to make other goods) are showing signs of peaking.  Import prices for consumer and capital goods actually fell during the month of April.

06 May 2005

Posted at 16:28h in The Friday Brief by
This week the markets have fared far better than last.  The S&P 500 is up almost 1% as of this morning and the NASDAQ is up over 2%.  Bonds have had a good week as well with the Lehman 1-3 Year and 7-10 Year Treasury Indexes rising .2% and .4% respectively. 

29 Apr 2005

Posted at 16:39h in The Friday Brief by
According to today’s government reports, the consumer has not wilted in the face of higher gasoline prices.  Personal spending was up more than expected in March while personal savings fell to .4%, the lowest since October 2001.  Mitigating the falling savings rate somewhat though is a healthy rise in disposable incomes.  When adjusted for inflation, incomes were up 3.3% last month from March 2004.

22 Apr 2005

Posted at 16:44h in The Friday Brief by
Will higher oil prices finally cause inflation in the U.S. economy?  Will the Federal Reserve be forced to raise their benchmark rates faster and risk stalling the economy?  These are the questions on the minds of investors and traders of stocks and bonds alike.  Recent indicators released by the government this week had opposite and dramatic effects on the markets.  The Producer Price Index released Tuesday showed that prices held steady for the month of March at the manufacturer’s level.  The S&P 500 index was up .6% and the bond markets rallied substantially as well.