For a Monday, trading wasn't very impressive. The back-and-forth of the equity markets we've been seeing for many months have elicited a cautionary mood. There's modest dip-buying and rallies are being sold, though not excessively. It makes a great market for traders on commission or those who are in and out of stocks faster than political media pundits can say, "Russia."
It being the heart of third quarter earnings season, there are likely to be bumps and grinds, but the news of the day was the S&P picking up 20 points to close above 3,000, the first time it's been there since September 19. Prior to that, the S&P remained at elevated levels for the last two weeks in July, topping out at 3,025.86 on the 26th before taking a five percent dive in August.
The question now, with impeachment talk fading, troops coming out of Syria and a tentative cease fire between the Kurds and Turks imposed, a China deal looking better every day, and still-solid employment figures, is whether the index can make a new all-time high and hold there. The Fed is certainly doing its part, adding as much liquidity as it can, as quickly as possible, but yields on the 10-year note are not making it any easier, reaching 1.80% on Monday. The good news from the bond pits is that the curve is no longer inverted and hasn't been for some time, easing recession fears.
Thus, there are shifting winds, buffeting the sails of sellers and buyers alike, but the S&P 500 appears to be marching toward uncharted territory. Another session like Monday's would put it over the top.
As far as alternatives, the aforementioned bond arena is looking better and better, though far-out alternatives like gas generators, extra canned goods, firewood, and gardening supplies have taken the front seat on the road to self-sufficiency.
It's no joke that preppers are still prepping for the inevitable crash and burn, or civil war, or zombie apocalypse. It's coming, but no one knows when. For the most part, all those canned goods have to be rotated at last every few years, but, hey, everybody has to eat.
Gold bugs and silver surfers have been backstabbed repeatedly by the futures traders whose sole mission in life, it seems, is to keep a lid on the price of precious metals. They've done a stellar job, smashing down gold every time it crests above $1500, and silver, whenever it gets to $18 per ounce, is sold as if it's some form of monetary kryptonite.
That leaves stocks, or maybe it's time to think about buying a few cows and a brace of chickens. McDonald's (MCD) may be thinking along those lines. They missed on both top and bottom line estimates with EPS coming in at $2.11 vs. $2.21 expected. Overall, it wasn't bad, however. Despite a miss on domestic same store sales - +4.8% vs. +5.2% expected - which is causing a decline of about four percent in pre-market trading, most companies would be happy with growth above four percent, especially established brands like Mickey D's.
Investors always overreact, and this is no different, though with a multiple closing in on 30, maybe the fast food giant is a bit overpriced above $200 per share.
You want fries with that sell order?
At the Close, Monday, October 21, 2019:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 26,827.64, +57.44 (+0.21%)
NASDAQ: 8,162.99, +73.44 (+0.91%)
S&P 500 3,006.72, +20.52 (+0.69%)
NYSE Composite: 13,088.61, +81.97 (+0.63%)
Showing posts with label chickens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chickens. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Moody Market Seeks Direction; Farm Notes: Keeping Good Faith
Wandering aimlessly through the session, US indices could not decide to rise or fall on Tuesday, ending the session in split fashion.
Gaining in the morning and finally relenting by midday, stocks hit their lows of the session between 2:00 and 3:00 pm EDT, but gathered momentum into the close, paring losses and, in most cases, turning slightly positive.
The Dow was the only index to suffer a loss, a sharp reversal from Monday, upon which the Industrials held the best percentage gain among the major indices.
Volume was fairly anemic, though that's nothing unusual, and while many are calling the recent moves a "stealth rally" the effects of monetary policy, particularly the Fed's recently-announced purchase of some $80 billion per month in MBS for an unspecified period (AKA QEternity) have been felt, possibly having been already priced into stocks, some of which continue to trade at nose-bleed levels, the past few weeks of have been anything other than a secret and almost certainly not a rally.
Since QEternity was announced as policy on September 13, the major indices have been substantially flat.
Of course, this being October and a presidential election year, all of this could change if the market suddenly finds a catalyst for a move in either direction. On the other hand, the market ostensibly controlled by a small number of "strong hands," listlessness and directionless trading could be continued through the election and beyond. As the brokerage commercials are quick to point out, stocks cary risk.
Farming Note: In the rural outliers where corn and chickens are more important than stocks and bonds, a person's word is generally regarded as oath, at least until it is found to be untrue.
It's not a good idea to make promises and plans with potential partners or acquaintances only to dummy up some feeble excuse whereby to break an agreement. Word spreads quickly in farm country about one's character and eventually, those whose word is found not to be trustworthy, soon find themselves cast away, a pariah of the community.
Besides being the golden rule to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," not keeping good faith ruins friendships, destroys one's self-confidence and generally puts one at odds with Mother Nature herself, a condition reserved only for the truly wicked and those who would scheme against one's fellow man or woman in pursuit of one's own fortune.
Rain may fall when unwanted, drought may starve crops at other times, but only the fruitlessness of one's own hand can cause one's own demise. The harmed party or parties may seek lawful restitution if one's word is a written contract, though more often the result is that the harmed party finds a better deal with a competitor, and the perpetrator of deceit is brought down by guilt and shame.
Dow 13,482.36, -32.75 (0.24%)
NASDAQ 3,120.04, +6.51 (0.21%)
S&P 500 1,445.75, +1.26 (0.09%)
NYSE Compos... 8,295.11, +10.74 (0.13%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,617,743,250
NYSE Volume 3,275,690,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2859-2592
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 247-44
WTI crude oil: 91.89, -0.59
Gold: 1,775.60, -7.70
Silver: 34.67, -0.283
Gaining in the morning and finally relenting by midday, stocks hit their lows of the session between 2:00 and 3:00 pm EDT, but gathered momentum into the close, paring losses and, in most cases, turning slightly positive.
The Dow was the only index to suffer a loss, a sharp reversal from Monday, upon which the Industrials held the best percentage gain among the major indices.
Volume was fairly anemic, though that's nothing unusual, and while many are calling the recent moves a "stealth rally" the effects of monetary policy, particularly the Fed's recently-announced purchase of some $80 billion per month in MBS for an unspecified period (AKA QEternity) have been felt, possibly having been already priced into stocks, some of which continue to trade at nose-bleed levels, the past few weeks of have been anything other than a secret and almost certainly not a rally.
Since QEternity was announced as policy on September 13, the major indices have been substantially flat.
Of course, this being October and a presidential election year, all of this could change if the market suddenly finds a catalyst for a move in either direction. On the other hand, the market ostensibly controlled by a small number of "strong hands," listlessness and directionless trading could be continued through the election and beyond. As the brokerage commercials are quick to point out, stocks cary risk.
Farming Note: In the rural outliers where corn and chickens are more important than stocks and bonds, a person's word is generally regarded as oath, at least until it is found to be untrue.
It's not a good idea to make promises and plans with potential partners or acquaintances only to dummy up some feeble excuse whereby to break an agreement. Word spreads quickly in farm country about one's character and eventually, those whose word is found not to be trustworthy, soon find themselves cast away, a pariah of the community.
Besides being the golden rule to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," not keeping good faith ruins friendships, destroys one's self-confidence and generally puts one at odds with Mother Nature herself, a condition reserved only for the truly wicked and those who would scheme against one's fellow man or woman in pursuit of one's own fortune.
Rain may fall when unwanted, drought may starve crops at other times, but only the fruitlessness of one's own hand can cause one's own demise. The harmed party or parties may seek lawful restitution if one's word is a written contract, though more often the result is that the harmed party finds a better deal with a competitor, and the perpetrator of deceit is brought down by guilt and shame.
Dow 13,482.36, -32.75 (0.24%)
NASDAQ 3,120.04, +6.51 (0.21%)
S&P 500 1,445.75, +1.26 (0.09%)
NYSE Compos... 8,295.11, +10.74 (0.13%)
NASDAQ Volume 1,617,743,250
NYSE Volume 3,275,690,000
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ Advance - Decline: 2859-2592
Combined NYSE & NASDAQ New highs - New lows: 247-44
WTI crude oil: 91.89, -0.59
Gold: 1,775.60, -7.70
Silver: 34.67, -0.283
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