Every day political and economic news events are reported, annualized and then reflected in the stock market. Stock prices are either pushed up or down daily based on what investors and traders ‘think’, and almost all of the day-to-day movement is emotionally driven. This week is a prime example. President Trump mentioned the China trade […]
This report is released every month and is divided into two parts, manufacturing and non-manufacturing. Non-manufacturing is frequently referred to as the service sector of our economy. We are a service sector dominate economy. On Monday, the manufacturing sector for November came in with a reading of 48.1%, falling for the fourth month in a […]
Happy Thanksgiving Here at KPP Financial we can get very focused on investments, economics and growing our clients’ money. That is our job and we love doing it. However, we all need to take a time out and focus on family. Thanksgiving is the perfect time. Even though I and my wife were not blessed […]
October new homes sales fell .7% on a monthly basis to 733,000 annual rate. However, for September the number was increased from 701,000 to 738,000. September was much stronger and was a 12-year high. Therefore, a fall for October of .7% is not significant. New home sales are up 32% from a year ago with […]
Construction of new homes rose in October to 1.314 million on an annualized rate. Permits for new homes rose sharply to 1.461 million, the highest rate since 2007 before the housing bubble crashed. Permits increased across every region with the Northeast posting the largest monthly increase of 19.5%. Home builder’s sentiment appears to be improving […]
October retail sales rose .3% higher than the .2% expected, and after removing autos, which are high priced and volatile on a month-to-month basis, it was up .2%; a bit less than expected. However, the positive numbers were much better than the month before, where retail sales shrank. Many retailers posted soft results before the […]
Consumer prices in October jumped .4% to push annual inflation to 1.8%. However, that is still well below the peak of last year at 3%. A large part of the increase was caused by higher gasoline prices. Inflation remains well contained at the consumer level. Striping out food and energy, two items that tend to […]
We are near the completion of the earnings season for the third quarter. As always the earnings beat expectations but were they good numbers? Wall Street always guides earnings lower just before the earnings for each quarter are released. They try and manage the expectations of the investors so that when the actual numbers come […]
Markets are rising above old highs; so, are we in the clear for another leg up in the stock market? The Fed said they were going to pause, the partial trade deal with China looks on track and valuations of stocks are high. The prudent investor would suggest that all that good news is built […]
Since our economy is 70% derived from what the consumer does, the monthly reports on their habits is always enlightening. Many watch the consumer confidence numbers but I find that they tend to not actually follow what the consumer ‘does’ but rather what they ’feel’ at the time the survey was taken. This week for […]