Amidst Subdued Capex Scene, Nasdaq 100 Scores Yet Another High Last Fri

posted in: Economy, Equities, Technicals | 0

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index is doing very well so far this year – up 22.4 percent.  This compares with a rise of 10.3 percent for the Dow Industrials, 10.1 percent for the S&P 500 large cap index, and a … Continued

Fed’s Hawkish Desire Versus Uncooperative Macro Data

posted in: Credit, Economy | 0

The Fed is in a tight spot. Yesterday, on the day it told us it continues to have a slight tightening bias it published capacity utilization and industrial production for May.  Utilization dropped 0.4 percent month-over-month to 74.9 percent, a … Continued

U.S. Productivity Trends Not Conducive To 2H Earnings Expectations

posted in: Economy, Equities | 0

For U.S. corporations, there was a trio of bad news in yesterday’s revised productivity numbers for the first quarter, and this potentially has earnings repercussions. U.S. non-farm business output per hour year-over-year was revised lower from growth of 0.6 percent … Continued

Peek Into Future Through Futures

The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of May 26, 2015.  Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: If we just focus on what the consensus was expecting, U.S. economic data this week were split down the middle, with maybe a … Continued

U.S. corporations setting aside fewer profit dollars for software, R&D

posted in: Economy | 0

Share of U.S. corporate profits in national income barely off all-time highs Share of software plus R&D in U.S. private fixed investment falling since 2009 As good a hint as any for corporates to send current margins unsustainable long term? … Continued