Stocks are enjoying a nice relief rally, using the “no news is good news” as an excuse to buy. As such, gold prices are seeing a decline.
New home sales followed the lead of existing home sales and came in with disappointing numbers, down 0.7% month-over-month. The silver lining here is that it is up 6.8% year-over-year, reflecting what most of us already know: housing is recovering, it’s just taking its sweet time to do so.
Hurricane Irene is getting bigger and bigger, now forecast to be a category 4 by the time it hits the Carolinas. And Virginia just enjoyed a 5.8 magnitude earthquake, which I thought was a horror reserved for the West Coast yuppies. Guess not.
Qaddaffi pulled a ‘Saddam Hussein’ and has gone missing after Libyan rebels invaded and took his Tripoli compound. Now they get to play a rousing game of hide-and-seek-and-eventually-hang-a-dictator.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Back to school, ohhh back to school to prove to dad that I'm not a fool
Amercians’ consumer confidence has hit a new low. I blame the iPhone 5 for not being released yet. We don’t need confidence, we need a smartphone that is 3 ounces lighter AND has a higher resolution screen! I’ll fritter away my kids’ college fund for THAT toy!
School is back in session. So we can all get back to the age-old conversation of “How was your day? Fine. Great. No X-Box until your homework is done.”
Hurricane Irene decided to spare us her wrath and shall instead wreak it upon the heathens of South Carolina. Which is good, because I’m taking my vacation at the end of this week.
The rebels are ‘winning’ the Libyan war as they converge on Qaddaffi’s compound. Hopefully their Jedi training will be enough to topple the evil empire. And by “Jedi training” I mean “guns bought from known terrorists financed by us”. Yeah. This story’s gonna have a happy ending.
Mortgage delinquencies are on the rise again nationwide. Not a thrillingly good sign.
School is back in session. So we can all get back to the age-old conversation of “How was your day? Fine. Great. No X-Box until your homework is done.”
Hurricane Irene decided to spare us her wrath and shall instead wreak it upon the heathens of South Carolina. Which is good, because I’m taking my vacation at the end of this week.
The rebels are ‘winning’ the Libyan war as they converge on Qaddaffi’s compound. Hopefully their Jedi training will be enough to topple the evil empire. And by “Jedi training” I mean “guns bought from known terrorists financed by us”. Yeah. This story’s gonna have a happy ending.
Mortgage delinquencies are on the rise again nationwide. Not a thrillingly good sign.
Friday, August 19, 2011
The BRIC is sinking
BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are seeing a massive investor withdrawal from their investment funds. Meanwhile people are still piling into US Treasuries. Not trying to down emerging markets, but it stands as a bold example that when things are going crazy people still hide in the warm embrace of US debt. Because as bad as things may be here, they’re still better than everywhere else. Even Vladimir Putin has come forward and called the United States a “parasite” due to our increasing debt destabilizing the global economy WHILE he buys more of it. That’s like complaining about how fat our society has become while inhaling a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts between breaths.
Mmmmmmm. Krispy Kreme. Especially when they’re hot and fresh.
And in related news, gold settled at an all-time high yesterday as fear seems to be the top factor driving investment decisions in today’s market. So time to take grandma’s jewelry collection down to the neighborhood smelter and cash in! Her memory’s going anyway, so she won’t notice it’s gone.
Mmmmmmm. Krispy Kreme. Especially when they’re hot and fresh.
And in related news, gold settled at an all-time high yesterday as fear seems to be the top factor driving investment decisions in today’s market. So time to take grandma’s jewelry collection down to the neighborhood smelter and cash in! Her memory’s going anyway, so she won’t notice it’s gone.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
And boom goes the stock market
July Existing Home Sales missed the mark, falling by 3.5% month-over-month nationwide. Many point the finger at the west, where the decrease in conforming loan limits from $729,000 to $625,000 caused a tangible impact on their ability to get homes financed. Leave it to those starlets in California to screw it up for everyone.
Stocks are enjoying a tall glass of HOLY HELL ITS ARMAGEDDON IN EUROPE today, plunging over 400 points at the time of writing. I expect a relief rally coming in the next couple of business days, but the protracted volatility in equities is making for a noteworthy downward trend. Of course, pundits everywhere are trying to draw a correlation between Obama’s vacation and this stock madness.
And I think that the GOP is grooming so many presidential candidates in order to create some sort of super-robot-candidate a la Voltron. I gotta say, a building-sized machine housing all of the conservative ideals in one spot WOULD be an interesting contender in 2012. We’ll see.
Stocks are enjoying a tall glass of HOLY HELL ITS ARMAGEDDON IN EUROPE today, plunging over 400 points at the time of writing. I expect a relief rally coming in the next couple of business days, but the protracted volatility in equities is making for a noteworthy downward trend. Of course, pundits everywhere are trying to draw a correlation between Obama’s vacation and this stock madness.
And I think that the GOP is grooming so many presidential candidates in order to create some sort of super-robot-candidate a la Voltron. I gotta say, a building-sized machine housing all of the conservative ideals in one spot WOULD be an interesting contender in 2012. We’ll see.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
It ain't easy bein' Ben
It’s tough being Ben. Rick Perry recently came out calling Ben Bernanke’s quantitative easing policies “treasonous”, claiming they undermine the long-term economic health of our nation. As a proper Texan, he suggested we draw and quarter Ben using only young bulls. Or suggested Ben step down. One or the other. I think I made that first one up.
Today, Philadelphia Fed Chairman Plosser announced that the Fed’s recent promise to keep rates low through mid-2013 might be more hot air than iron-clad agreement. This comes as no surprise considering he dissented with the decision in the first place. So at least he’s keeping his stories straight.
Mortgage Applications edged upwards by 4.1%, marked by an increase in refinance applications and a decrease in purchases. Recent stock volatility has contributed to super low rates which are catching quite a few eyes. The slowdown in purchases doesn’t bode well for homebuilders however, who are on track to build the fewest single-family homes in history this year. While this sucks for them, we certainly don’t need more inventory at this particular moment, at least locally.
Today, Philadelphia Fed Chairman Plosser announced that the Fed’s recent promise to keep rates low through mid-2013 might be more hot air than iron-clad agreement. This comes as no surprise considering he dissented with the decision in the first place. So at least he’s keeping his stories straight.
Mortgage Applications edged upwards by 4.1%, marked by an increase in refinance applications and a decrease in purchases. Recent stock volatility has contributed to super low rates which are catching quite a few eyes. The slowdown in purchases doesn’t bode well for homebuilders however, who are on track to build the fewest single-family homes in history this year. While this sucks for them, we certainly don’t need more inventory at this particular moment, at least locally.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
The downgrade heard 'round the world
I love being correct. Seems to happen a lot lately. Well, as expected our elected officials up on Capitol Hill brought together a multi-phased “compromise” of a bill to raise the debt ceiling on the very last day they had available. The time-crunch made for some very impressive political theater. Of course it was immediately signed into law and of course everyone promptly went out to the media outlets to discuss how their respective party sacrificed so much and the hooligans from the other party almost drove the nation to default.
Cuz it’s never your side’s fault. It’s those dirty, no good other-siders.
So, Armageddon avoided once again. That is, until Standard and Poors Ratings decided to take the “Screw America” spotlight and downgrade our treasury debt rating from AAA to AA+. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I ever brought home a AA+ on homework it would go right up on the fridge and I’d get ice cream that night. Clearly our debt rating does not receive similar kudos. Or ice cream.
This is the first debt downgrade our country has ever seen. It’s a pretty big deal. China came out and publically said that our days of “easy borrowing” are over which was kind of a rude thing for our eco-nomic bedfellow to say. Lots of other reputable sources (Forbes, Berkshire Hathaway, etc.) have come forward claiming that S&P was massively wrong to downgrade the debt, and the other two ratings agencies still hold us at a strong AAA.
This is following a horrific week in the equity markets, where Obama got a 513 point drop on the Dow Jones Industrial Average for a 50th birthday present. This week hasn’t been much better thus far. So if you’re planning on retiring here in the nearby future, I sincerely hope you are able to adjust your expectations. Because you can’t have your dog food AND ketchup now. Gotta tighten the ol’ belt.
The recent Fed Open Market Committee meeting proved essentially toothless aside from Bernanke telling the markets that they will need to “stand on their own” going forward. They also pledged to keep benchmark rates at these historic low levels through at least mid-2013, marking a noteworthy reduction in ambiguity over their policy going forward.
An interesting side-note though: 3 of the 10 Fed Chiefs dissented with keeping the target Fed Funds Rate between 0.00 and 0.25%, marking the first time since 1992 that the FOMC ended with so many dissenters. T’would seem there is a rising difference of opinion towards the low rates agenda.
England is evidently burning itself down. And I… I just don’t care. Maybe they finally figured out that warm beer sucks. Maybe it’s a crumpet famine, I dunno. Something dumb, probably.
And the bloodshed between us and the Taliban rages on. We have killed those involved in the downing of a U.S. helicopter containing 38 people, 22 of which were Navy Seals. A part of me wants to celebrate the retribution, but the whole situation stands as a grim reminder that we are indeed still at war with what continues to be a very dangerous enemy.
Know what? I hate ending on a downer. So here’s a link to a video about kittens. Everybody loves kittens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU And those kittens want you to buy a house and finance it through Greg. Are you gonna deny them? I didn’t think so.
Cuz it’s never your side’s fault. It’s those dirty, no good other-siders.
So, Armageddon avoided once again. That is, until Standard and Poors Ratings decided to take the “Screw America” spotlight and downgrade our treasury debt rating from AAA to AA+. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I ever brought home a AA+ on homework it would go right up on the fridge and I’d get ice cream that night. Clearly our debt rating does not receive similar kudos. Or ice cream.
This is the first debt downgrade our country has ever seen. It’s a pretty big deal. China came out and publically said that our days of “easy borrowing” are over which was kind of a rude thing for our eco-nomic bedfellow to say. Lots of other reputable sources (Forbes, Berkshire Hathaway, etc.) have come forward claiming that S&P was massively wrong to downgrade the debt, and the other two ratings agencies still hold us at a strong AAA.
This is following a horrific week in the equity markets, where Obama got a 513 point drop on the Dow Jones Industrial Average for a 50th birthday present. This week hasn’t been much better thus far. So if you’re planning on retiring here in the nearby future, I sincerely hope you are able to adjust your expectations. Because you can’t have your dog food AND ketchup now. Gotta tighten the ol’ belt.
The recent Fed Open Market Committee meeting proved essentially toothless aside from Bernanke telling the markets that they will need to “stand on their own” going forward. They also pledged to keep benchmark rates at these historic low levels through at least mid-2013, marking a noteworthy reduction in ambiguity over their policy going forward.
An interesting side-note though: 3 of the 10 Fed Chiefs dissented with keeping the target Fed Funds Rate between 0.00 and 0.25%, marking the first time since 1992 that the FOMC ended with so many dissenters. T’would seem there is a rising difference of opinion towards the low rates agenda.
England is evidently burning itself down. And I… I just don’t care. Maybe they finally figured out that warm beer sucks. Maybe it’s a crumpet famine, I dunno. Something dumb, probably.
And the bloodshed between us and the Taliban rages on. We have killed those involved in the downing of a U.S. helicopter containing 38 people, 22 of which were Navy Seals. A part of me wants to celebrate the retribution, but the whole situation stands as a grim reminder that we are indeed still at war with what continues to be a very dangerous enemy.
Know what? I hate ending on a downer. So here’s a link to a video about kittens. Everybody loves kittens. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtX8nswnUKU And those kittens want you to buy a house and finance it through Greg. Are you gonna deny them? I didn’t think so.
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