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    June Jobs Number Boosts Markets, Earnings On Deck

    Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.  Robert H. Schuller As people meander down the path of their journey in life, most are encountered with choices about different aspects of their life? What educational possibilities should they go after? What profession do they want to pursue? What is their preferred choice of religion? Who might they find attractive as a life partner? Should they try and have kids?  What choice of political party should they make? Oops...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Consumer Credit Jumps $19 Billion In May Thanks To New All Time Highs In Student And Auto Loans

    The latest consumer credit report confirmed what we have now known for years: revolving credit remains stagnant at best, with just $2.3 billion in credit card debt added in May, a modest rebound from last month’s $1.4 billion but certainly nowhere near pre-crisis monthly increase levels. Why not? Because US consumers once again found a way to “fungibly” convert non-revolving credit, namely auto and mostly student loans, into purchasing power. And sure enough, in May another $16.2 billion in non-credit card debt was added, bringing the total monthly increase to $18.55 billion, above the $16 billion consensus. What this means ...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    EC Previewing The Q2 Earnings Season

    Alcoa (AA) may no longer be as relevant to the U.S. economy and the stock market, but the company’s name gets plenty of sunshine from the widely-held belief that its earnings report kick-starts each quarterly reporting cycle. Many in the market even see the company’s earnings report as a leading indicator of what to expect from the rest of corporate America. But that is most likely overstating the company’s status, notwithstanding aluminum’s growing role in the automotive, aircraft manufacturing and construction end markets. The bottom line is that the relevance of Alcoa’s results and outlook is fairly limited; it doesn’t tell us...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    9 Best Stocks For Value Investors This Week – 7/9/16

    We evaluated 35 different companies this week to determine whether they are suitable for Defensive Investors, those unwilling to do substantial research, or Enterprising Investors, those who are willing to do such research. We also put each company through the ModernGraham valuation model based on Benjamin Graham’s value investing formulas in order to determine an intrinsic value for each. Out of those 35 companies, only 9 were found to be undervalued or fairly valued and suitable for either Defensive or Enterprising Investors. The Elite The following companies were found to be suitable for either the Defensive Investor or Enterprising I...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Minimum Wage Hikes Are No Factor In Strong June Jobs Report. When Will We See Impact?

    A higher minimum wage kicked in for employers in 14 cities, counties and states on July 1, while January 1 also saw many hikes. And unlike past increases, many were not just a few cents per hour but substantially higher. So when will these higher minimum wage rates pull down aggregate employment? The minimum wage hikes certainly are not reflected the June 2016 data, which just came out as this article is being written. Total jobs across the country increased by 287,000. Some 35,000 of the gain was a rebound from the Verizon strike in May. Even without that bounce, June’s gain was the best of 2016 and better than half the months of 2015. N...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    4 Undervalued Stocks To Buy And 5 To Sell

    It is hard to believe we are already in July and more than halfway through 2016; although, down here in steamy Miami summer arrived some time ago with its usual combination of heat and humidity. The first half of 2016 was notable for how bizarre the world has become over the past couple of quarters. The 10-year treasury bond is sporting record low yields of under 1.4% and actually returned more than double the appreciation of the S&P 500 in the first half of the year. The S&P 500 almost returned four percent if you include dividends. This is nothing compared with Europe where half of the Eurozone’s $6.4 trillion in sovereign debt cu...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Silver Dives To Weekly Lows On NFP Data

    Silver prices declined early Friday morning, in reaction to a surging US Dollar. This move was predicated on the US Dollar rallying on better than expected NFP numbers. After its initial move lower, Silver prices have rebounded after printing a new weekly low at $19.20. However, despite this bounce in price, silver has yet to retest the weekly high at $21.11. Going into next week’s trading, traders should continue to monitor these values to help determine Silvers next direction Silver 1Hour Chart (Created using Marketscope 2.0 Charts) In the event that Silver prices decline next week, a breakout below $19.20 should be considered significan...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Fearing Confiscation, Japanese Savers Rush To Buy Gold And Store It In Switzerland

    Japan has pushed further away from being the nation that embraces “Krugman Era” economics and deeper into the new “Bernanke Era” economics of helicopter money. As a result Japan’s citizens have been on a blitz to save what little purchasing power they still possess, before hyperinflation finally arrives. The gold price is up double digits in the past month and as we said, something big is coming as Japan appears to prime itself for “helicopter money”. With the Yen soaring and that whole negative rate thing going on, the Japanese savers are understandably concerned about the future of their savings. ...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Guide To Columbia Seligman Communications And Information A Fund

    Columbia Seligman Communications and Information A (SLMCX – MF report) a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) seeks to achieve capital gain. SLMCX invests a large portion of its net assets in the securities of companies operating in the communications, information and related industries. This Sector – Tech fund, as of the last filing, allocates their fund in three major groups; Small Growth, Large Growth and Large Value. Further, as of the last filing, Lam research Corp. (LRCX), Synopsis Inc. (SNPS) and Broadcom Corp. (AVGO) were the top holdings for SLMCX. The Columbia Seligman Communications and Information A fund, managed by Columbia, carrie...
    On July 9, 2016 / By
  • Finance 0

    Direct Line Of Funding Warnings Show Up In Corporate Credit, Particularly IG

    One of the consequences of last year’s junk bond blowup was, unsurprisingly, a dramatic decline in high yield gross issuance. The numbers were pretty stark. According to SIFMA, high yield gross issuance in Q1 was 60% less than Q1 2015, following Q4 which was 47% below Q4 2014. As the market has come back since March, for all sorts of reasons including Mario Draghi, issuance has, as well – but not to the same sort of condition as before. In other words, volume is only relatively better than the worst months. Gross junk issuance in June 2016 is figured to have been $24 billion, higher than the $21.7 billion in June 2015 but significantly ...
    On July 9, 2016 / By