22 Nov 2002

Posted at 12:15h in The Friday Brief by
Since reaching a five-year low on October 9th caused in large part by the threat of war with Iraq, the Dow has rallied almost 22% from those lows.  The NASDAQ has risen 32% as investors and short-coverers have snapped up depressed technology stocks.  What has changed?  The threat of war seems as great now as it did on early October?  Have stocks risen too far too fast?  The short answer is, quite possibly, but maybe just for the near-term. 

15 Nov 2002

Posted at 12:17h in The Friday Brief by
News that retail sales, excluding automobiles, improved by the most in six months sent the market averages up yesterday over 1.7% for the DOW and 2.5% for the S&P 500.  The .7% rise in sales was more than twice what economists had expected.  Treasuries fell and stocks rose as investors gained confidence that the consumer, hence the economy, might just be hanging on. 

08 Nov 2002

Posted at 16:14h in The Friday Brief by
Every two years we undergo a peaceful revolution in this country known as the mid-term elections, where one third of the Senate and all of the House of Representatives are elected or re-elected.  If you are a Democrat, the last thing you want to read is more talk about the election, but please bear me out.  There are some vital observations that may have been lost so far in the emotion and hype. 

01 Nov 2002

Posted at 16:28h in The Friday Brief by
Roughly three quarters of companies have reported their earnings for the third quarter.  First Call tells us that the actual earnings are running 3.1% ahead of the final estimated earnings for S&P500 companies.  But these earnings expectations have been cut several times by analysts in the weeks leading up to reporting season.  At the beginning of the second quarter of this year earnings growth was expected to be over 16%, but by the start of the Q3 reporting season expectations had been cut to just under 5%.