Thursday, July 25, 2024

The Morning Call--Bill Dudley changes his mind

 

The Morning Call

 

7/25/24

 

The Market

         

    Technical

 

            Wednesday in the charts.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bonds-big-tech-bloodbath-mag7-meltdown-accelerates-yield-curve-dis-inverts-2-year-high

 

Note: the S&P closed below the lower boundary of its very short uptrend; if it remains there through the close today, that trend will be negated. It also finished right on its 50 DMA. Follow through.

 

            The gold breakout failed but…………

            https://allstarcharts.com/gold-one-good-trend-pays-for-em-all/

 

    Fundamental

 

       Headlines

 

              The Economy

 

                        US

 

                          Weekly initial jobless claims totaled 235,000 versus consensus of 238,000.

 

June durable goods orders fell 6.6% versus predictions of +0.3%; ex transportation, they were up 0.5% versus up 0.2%.

 

June new home sales fell 0.6% versus estimates of an increase of 3.4%; June building permits were up 3.9% versus +3.4%.

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2024/07/24/new-home-sales-fall-june-2024

 

More data on the faltering housing market.

https://wolfstreet.com/2024/07/23/here-comes-the-inventory-of-vacant-homes-with-buyers-on-strike-despite-lower-mortgage-rates-supply-spikes-to-highest-in-4-years-sales-drop-except-at-high-end/

 

Q2 advanced GDP growth was +2.3% versus expectations of +2.6%; the Q2 advanced price index was +2.9% versus +2.7%; Q2 advanced QoQ sales growth was +2.0% versus +2.8%; Q2 advanced QoQ real consumer spending was +2.3% versus +2.2%

 

The July flash manufacturing PMI was 49.5 versus forecasts of 51.7; the flash services PMI was 56.0 versus 55.0; the flash composite PMI was 55.0 versus 54.7.

                          https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/services-soar-manufacturing-slumps-preliminary-july-pmis

 

                        International

 

The July German business climate index came in at 87.0 versus projections of 88.9; the June current conditions index was 87.1 versus 88.5.

 

The July UK industrial trends orders index was -32 versus consensus of -19; the Q3 business optimism index was -9 versus -15.

 

                        Other

 

                          June architecture billings declined.

                          https://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2024/07/aia-architecture-billings-declined-in.html

 

            Monetary Policy

 

              Bill Dudley changes his mind. This is getting a lot of attention in the press.

              https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-07-24/the-fed-needs-to-cut-interest-rates-now?srnd=homepage-americas&sref=loFkkPMQ

 

              Bank of Canada cuts rates for a second month in a row.

              https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bank-canada-cuts-rates-second-consecutive-month-says-reasonable-expect-more

 

            Recession

 

              Why would long and variable lags be asymmetric?

              https://www.apolloacademy.com/why-would-long-and-variable-lags-be-asymmetric/

 

              The ‘climbing limo’ Q2 GDP forecast.

              https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2024/07/climbing-limo-gdp-forecast-for-2024-q2.html

 

Some formerly reliable recession indicators aren’t working.

https://www.axios.com/2024/07/23/recession-indicators-signals-not-working-employment-trends

 

But that has always been the case.

              https://www.capitalspectator.com/the-case-against-lone-recession-indicators-is-stronger-than-ever/

 

              For the optimists.

              https://www.ft.com/content/6687578b-40b1-4026-b9bc-2c5ee4ef81a8

 

            Tariffs

 

As you know, I am no advocate of tariffs; but this study suggesting that tariffs on the semiconductor industry have negatively impacted the growth of the labor force serving that industry is a bit short of logic. What is bothersome about this article is that it offers no cause and effect analysis. In other words, it assumes that higher tariffs cause lower unemployment without offering any proof of the causal relationship. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have a shortage of talent in the semiconductor industry; but this is hardly a convincing argument that high tariffs are the cause. Indeed, it seems far more logical to me that we have shortage of skilled engineers in multiple fields because of the woke/social justice orientation of our education system which churns out thousands of unneeded social engineers that wind up waiting tables and living with their parents because our capitalist economy has only a marginal need for them.

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2024/07/the-global-semiconductor-talent-crunch-how-protectionism-backfired.html

 

    News on Stocks in Our Portfolios

 

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) declares $5.10/share quarterly dividend, in line with previous.

 

AbbVie press release (NYSE:ABBV): Q2 Non-GAAP EPS of $2.65 misses by $0.01.

Revenue of $14.46B (+4.3% Y/Y) beats by $430M.

 

What I am reading today

 

           

 

 

Visit Investing for Survival’s website (http://investingforsurvival.com/home) to learn more about our Investment Strategy, Prices Disciplines and Subscriber Service.

 

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment