05 Dec 2008

Posted at 13:09h in The Friday Brief by
As of this writing, we find the S&P 500 down 8.6% for the week and the month of December, so far. Yet it remains 10% above its intra-day low reached Friday two weeks ago. The economic news has been as bad as expected and government counter-moves have been about as good as could be expected, with lame-duck limbo in full swing. Both Democrats and Republicans are warning Paulson that he may not get the additional $350 billion TARP funds.

22 Jun 2007

Posted at 13:26h in The Friday Brief by
Once again the big unregulated hedge funds are roiling the markets. Stocks and bonds have been down over the last couple of days on concern that hedge fund losses at Bear Stearns may signal wider problems in credit markets, particularly the sub-prime mortgage markets. The two hedge funds’ speculation in sub-prime collateralized debt obligations has threatened collapse as creditors including Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, and Citigroup moved to sell some of their collateral at fire sale prices.

24 Sep 2004

Posted at 15:58h in The Friday Brief by
This week’s batch of economic news continued mixed as it has been for the last few weeks.  A clearly good signal came today though, in the government’s report of Durable Goods Orders.  It showed that the nation’s manufacturing economy is gaining strength.  With the volatile transportation segment removed, durable goods increased a whopping 2.3%, almost tripling economists’ estimates for the month.  Manufacturing accounts for a third of the U.S. economy and remains the “engine of the global economy,” according to Bloomberg News.  Our manufacturing segment alone exceeds the individual gross domestic product of all but four nations: the U.K., Germany, Japan, and the U.S.  American factories shipped more than half of the world’s global exports in 2003.  

23 Jan 2004

Posted at 16:18h in The Friday Brief by
This holiday-shortened week has been a busy one for corporate earnings reports and management comments.  The World Economic Forum inDavos,Switzerlandhas also been a major focus of investors.  Almost without exception the numbers have been exceptionally positive, but the ever-present cautionary tone kept market enthusiasm in check.