Stocks Soar
Stocks soared today as pending housing sales was up for the second month in a row. The S&P index crossed an important technical threshold saying that stocks were “on the way UP.” So, people bought with both hands.
Bonds moved sideways and maintained their high interest rates.
The Dollar lost value as the Euro crossed the important $1.34 technical barrier – and we must wait to see how high the Euro will really go.
Oil and gasoline jumped as rumors of China wanting to buy more oil this year to fuel its economy surprised the market.
Gold continued moving sideways.
In the news today…..
The swine flu is a bust. The numbers just don’t support a pandemic scare as pitched by our media. The latest World Health Org scare is that this flu could come back in the winter – so be scared???
Pending Home sales were up again this month – at least its index value was up. I don’t like an index. I like absolute numbers. Pending home sales may be up, but that does not mean the housing price crisis is over. Only when house prices stabilize will the impact of housing on the US economy be contained. It hasn’t happened yet – so this is just hype to get people to buy stocks.
Obama announced he is going after taxes from companies who do business overseas – so “they pay their fair share in taxes.” There are a bunch of special rules that US companies use when they do operations overseas. As I worked overseas for 23 years, I become aware of these rules. They were put in place (with some heavy lobbying of course) to make the tax situation of US companies more or less comparable with their non-US competitors who don’t have to follow the US tax rules. If Obama is successful in getting his tax changes through, he will put our exporters at a disadvantage, and that will ultimately cost US jobs. Oh what an evil web we weave.
Here are the last numbers for today:
Dow Jones 30 Industrial – 8426 (up 214 points)
10 Year Treasury Bond – 3.16% (down 0.02%)
Euro – $1.3417 – positive for the value of the euro
Gold – $902 (up $14)
Oil – $54.47 (up $1.50)
Gasoline $1.59 (up $0.07)
Could you explain
Cap and Trade?
Hi Chris,
“Cap and Trade” is a dirty word – two words actually. This is a code word being used throughout the world to mean a “tax” that is paid on energy consumed.
I’m sorry to say that i don’t know its derivative, but it is being used by politicians to try to pull the wool over US citizens eyes. It is a tax, pure and simple.
You can expect to pay about 25% more for your energy – think electric bill, etc. than you pay right now.
Cap and Trade as well as a “Carbon Tax” are supported by none less than Al Gore. Need i say more? This is a Green Movement mantra.
Tom