One would think that tech would be the big winner for stocks the month as they bounce from an oversold position in May where all sectors fell. But one sector that fell the most in recent times is the material sector and that is the one doing the best in June. It is up over […]

The May report for retail sales was released this morning. It was both stronger and weaker than expected. Stronger if you shake out expensive autos, but weaker if, conversely, you include sales of expensive autos. So, auto sales in May were lower but sales of other goods and services perked up. If you add in […]

Last week a plethora of economic data was released. It is the job of the investor to determine which statistic is more important and what to look for in the data that might help in determining the future direction of the economy. Essentially an investor is looking for evidence of the next recession, an imperfect […]

A dramatic slowdown in job creation for May came as a surprise. Only 75,000 new jobs were created when the expectation was for 180,000. Also, they revised downward by 75,000 total jobs for the previous two months. However, the unemployment rate remained steady at a 50-year low of 3.6% with hourly wages year-over-year up 3.1%, […]

This morning, ADP released their report on the number of private sector jobs produced in May, and the number was a far cry from the month before going from 271,000 to 27,000. Historically ADP has been erratic in their numbers but in recent years they have been getting better so we need to take this […]

The stock market for all of May has fallen after the first four months of the year rebounding from a 10% correction at the end of 2018. It is obvious that the market has run out of steam and without a catalyst, the market could easily give up another 10% correction. The sell signal that […]

For years European nations have been experimenting, on an emergency basis to jump start their economy, with negative interest rates, and the question needs to be asked has it worked? Today those countries that moved their bank policy to reflect negative rates are still stuck with them. They seem to not be able to return […]

Recently we have seen large hedge funds unwind VIX option positions that indicate they have become bullish on the market after being bearish up to this point for the year. We have also seen institutional investors moving cash into the market, while May has been a difficult month for stocks. The smart money investors are […]

Small businesses employ up to 75% of workers in the U.S. Their health and optimism is very important since our economy is 70% consumer driven. Anything that keeps consumers employed and spending is good for U.S. economic health. This week the Small Business Optimism Index came out. This index is produced by the National Federation […]

This week’s April retail sales report was weak shrinking .2%. This was the second time in three months. For March it was strong up 1.8%, but then in February it was down .2%. What it appears to be telling us is that the consumer is taking a less aggressive spending stance in 2019. Maybe it’s […]