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  • Finance 0

    March 2017 Headline New Home Sales Improve And Above Expectations

    Written by John Lounsbury and Steven Hansen The headlines say new home sales improved and was above market expectations. Analyst Opinion of New Home Sales This month the backward revisions were small and the rolling averages significantly improved. This was a good month for new home sales. This data series is suffering from methodology issues which manifest as significant backward revision – and this month the revisions were mixed. Home sales move in spurts and jumps – so this is why we view this series using a three month rolling average (rolling averages declined}. Econintersect analysis: unadjusted sales growth accelerated ...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Thousand Point Milestones

    I just whipped this up, showing the timespan between 1,000 point increments on the Nasdaq Composite index. As you can see, there was a 17 year drought until it got another notch on its belt. Buy AMZN, AAPL, NFLX, and FB while they are cheap, everyone!...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    It’s “Make-Or-Break Time” And We Could See “A Painful Cleanout”

    Did you read “‘A Small Spark’ Could Trigger An EM Correction, But For Now: ‘No Bears Allowed,’” on Monday? Well if you didn’t, you should. If only because this was the teaser image: No, but seriously, there’s a lot of chatter these days about how sustainable emerging market ebullience is. As a reminder, EM flows have been solid (to say the least). As Barclays noted a few days ago, “both EM-dedicated bond and equity funds had positive flows in the week ending 19 April marking the fifth consecutive week that both asset classes have experienced inflows.” The bank continued: “In the current context of persistent flows into...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Teck Resources Ltd. Reports Lower-Than-Expected Q1 Profit Due To Higher Costs & Lower Production And Sales Volumes

    Teck Resources Ltd. (NYSE:TECK), North America’s largest producer of steel-making coal, reported lower-than-expected Q1 profit due to higher costs, lower production and sales volumes. BNN.ca The company said on Tuesday that: Unit production costs in the first quarter rose by $13 to $56 per ton from a year ago. First-quarter coal production was 6.1 million tonnes, 8% lower than last year. Teck, which also mines gold and silver, said: adjusted profit attributable to shareholders rose to $671 million, or $1.16 per share, from $18 million, or 3  cents a share, in the first quarter of 2016. Analysts on average were expecting the company to...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    What The Buck Happened To The AUD, NZD, And USD Yesterday?

    Experienced traders will remember a few years ago when markets were much simpler. For a period of time when the Fed was considering tapering its asset purchases, it seemed like every day was either a “risk on” day, where stocks, higher-yielding currencies and commodities rallied in sync, or a “risk off” day, where bonds, gold, the dollar and the Japanese yen led the way. Because these moves relied on handicapping the likelihood of continued QE from the Fed, they often were driven by counterintuitive causes; for instance, ostensibly “good” economic news (say, from a strong US jobs report) would typically lea...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Wal-Mart Stock Extending Higher

    Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) is the world’s largest company by revenue as well as the largest private employer in the world with 2.3 million employees. It’s an American multinational retailing corporation that operates as a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. Despite being the biggest physical retailer in the world, Wal-Mart is still trailing back in e-commerce business as there is increased competition from online retailers in particular Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) which continues to gain market share as the world is merging to online shopping. Warren Buffet reduced his shares in Wal-Mart, which he held since...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    Xerox (XRX) Misses Q1 Earnings And Revenue Estimates

    With operations in more than 180 countries, Xerox Corporation (XRX – Free Report) is a leader in the development, manufacture, marketing, servicing and financing of document equipment globally. Headquartered in Norwalk, CT, this century-old firm has helped organizations transform the way they manage their business processes and information. XRX has beaten earnings estimates once in the last four quarters, making for an average positive surprise of 3.91%. However, quite like its peers in the document industry, XRX is increasingly grappling with decreased demand for paper-related systems and products. With rising competition gradually...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    EC Play The Game To Win

    What Rick Barry and the Atlanta Falcons can teach us about risk management? “Something about the crowd transforms the way you think” – Malcolm Gladwell – Revisionist History With 4:45 remaining in Super Bowl LI, Matt Ryan, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback, threw a pass to Julio Jones who made an amazing catch. The play did not stand out because of the way the ball was thrown or the agility that Jones employed to make the catch, but due to the fact that the catch easily put the Falcons in field goal range very late in the game. That reception should have been the play of the game, but it was not. Instead, Tom Brady walked off the fi...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    US Consumer Confidence Slides, New Home Sales Beat

    US consumer confidence drops to 120.3, a bigger drop than had been expected but still a high score. New home sales jumped by 5.8% to 621K in March, much better than 583K projected. The figure for February was revised down from 592K to 587K. The US dollar is slightly stronger in the immediate aftermath, rising within the known ranges. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence measure was expected to settle lower in April: 122.5 points. The measure jumped to 125.6 in March, the highest in many years. However, this is not backed by an increase in retail sales. New home sales carried expectations for a 0.8% drop to 583K in March after 592K ...
    On April 25, 2017 / By
  • Finance 0

    E Canadian Banks Widen The Mortgage Market

    Commercial banks in Canada have long dominated the mortgage market and they now are making their mortgages available directly to investors.  The banks own the mortgage market, holding 75% of all residential mortgages and dwarfing the amounts held by competing institutions such as credit unions, trust companies and private lenders (Chart 1). Now, the banks want to take advantage of their market strength by securitizing their uninsured mortgages, providing individual investors with the opportunity to participate directly in this strong housing market. Chart 1: Distribution of Residential Mortgages by Institution, 2016 The banks have long packa...
    On April 25, 2017 / By