Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (Dec. 2 - Dec. 6 edition)

Daily investment & finance thread ^ | Dec. 2, 2013 | Freeper Investors

[expat_panama]

This is the Weekly Investment & Finance Thread (Dec. 2 - Dec. 6 edition)---- work in progress.

Last week's stocks saw new highs.  This week's reports include:

Dec 2 ISM Index, Construction Spending, Auto Sales
Dec 3 Truck Sales, MBA Mortgage Index, MBA Mortgage Purchase Index
Dec 4 ADP Employment Change, Trade Balance, New Home Sales , ISM Services, Crude Inventories, Fed's Beige Book
Dec 5 Challenger Job Cuts, Initial Claims, Continuing Claims, GDP - Second Estimate Q3, GDP Deflator - Second Estimate Q3, Factory Orders, Natural Gas Inventories
Dec 6 Nonfarm Payrolls, Nonfarm Private Payrolls, Unemployment Rate, Hourly Earnings, Average Workweek, Personal Income, Personal Spending Oct, PCE Prices - Core, Mich Sentiment Dec, Consumer Credit

Ping list -- on or off let me know here or via freep-mail. If I missed you then Freep-mail me.  The list of everyone's links is here.  Open invitation continues always for input on ideas for the thread, this being a joint effort works well.   Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarket

[expat_panama]

Happy turkey leftovers to all!  Futures are pointing to an weak up Monday morning after last week's gains; news:

Thanksgiving shopping becomes social, but spending down

USA TODAY - 4:20am Thanksgiving night shopping looked like a new family tradition this year as stores opened earlier and consumers took advantage of the extra time to spread out their Black Friday shopping.

Asia Data Show Export Weakness

Wall Street Journal - an hour ago Uncertainty Over Whether Asia Can Depend on Exports for Growth Rose After Data Show Export Weakness. Email; Print. Save ↓ More. Save to ↓ More.

China shares slide but brokerages spike on move to restart IPOs

Reuters - 3 hours ago HONG KONG Dec 2 (Reuters) - China shares ended a choppy Monday on a weaker note, as investors took profit on outperformers this year in anticipation that initial public offering reforms will divert funds to new listings.

Biden Pushes Trade Pact as China Air Zone Overshadows Visit

Bloomberg - 10:16am Vice President Joseph Biden arrives in Japan today on a trip to demonstrate the American commitment to the Asia-Pacific and defuse tensions over a Chinese air defense zone that drew criticism from the U.S.

The Campaign to Build a Better Bitcoin - Stephen Carter, Bloomberg

Everything Is Amazing, Nobody Is Happy - Morgan Housel, The Motley Fool

[Excellence]

Bfl

[SomeCallMeTim]

•The median new home today is 34% larger today than it was 25 years ago.

OMG!! An article about HAPPINESS first thing in the morning! THANKS!

I used the above stat every time someone tell me how stagnant house prices are. Compared to when I was kid? We all live in freaking CASTLES now!

[abb]

I can recall a time when only rich folks had central air conditioning in their houses.

[expat_panama]

only rich folks had central air conditioning

--and built-ins and stricter codes etc.  After building housing developments over the decades it's easy to see how home quality has vastly improved --something the doom'n'gloomers refuse to see.

[expat_panama]

Today stock futures are off as this last month of 2013 is beginning with profit taking --yesterdays' half-percent drop.  OK, so a half percent drop doesn't sound like much, but after a year's worth of half% losses/day it compounds out to a 73% loss.  This morning:

Global shares jittery over US stimulus, BOJ talk crops yen Reuters - 8:06am  LONDON (Reuters) - World shares fell for a second day and gold was near a five-month low on Tuesday, as concern the U.S. will soon scale back its economic stimulus offset reports that Japan would ramp up its own stimulus.

Stocks: Momentum fading after record run  CNN - an hour ago It's just the second trading day of December and investors already look wary of letting the rampage run to the end of the year.

Fast-food strikes aim at 100 US citiesBy CANDICE CHOI and SAM HANANEL - AP - Mon Dec 02, 4:54PM CSTNEW YORK (AP) — Fast-food workers in about 100 cities will walk off the job on Thursday, organizers say, which would mark the largest effort yet in a push for higher pay. (full story)
Get Ready for Lies and Labor Dept. Statistics - John Crudele, New York Post

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Kinda turned a little bearish this morning.

[expat_panama]

That’s what I was thinking, but the down movement is still small enough to still think of it as ‘profit taking’.

mho

[expat_panama]

Mixed bag yesterday as S&P marked its 8th drop in higher volume for this rally.  Still NASDAQ is better off and today's futures are better than yesterday's.

Coming Soon, A Global 'Wealth Tax' - Romain Hatchuel, Wall Street Journal
7 Mistakes To Avoid In First Retirement Year - Rodney Brooks, USA Today
Foreign Stocks, Gold, And Case For a Correction - John Kimelman, Barron's
World markets diffident as Fed looms large
Obama, in speech, to focus on income disparities
Detroit bankruptcy decision puts pensions at risk

[Pentagon Leatherneck]

Wednesday wasn’t very good. Better than yesterday. What will happen tomorrow and Friday?

TC

[expat_panama]

Very good question.  These patterns are usually repeating, but that just makes the next big question 'which pattern?' 

Here's what we got for the 3 major indexes over the past 12 months--

--and while we could continue our down trend into another of the 6 or 7 % correction like we've had every 3 months or so, I'm personally preparing for this being a repeat of the week of the small time profit-taking we had say, a few weeks ago.   iow, I'm still mostly in but ready to do a little 'profit-taking' of my own.  Make that 'more' profit taking.  Yesterday I sold of one stock (RGR) that was failing.  Sure, the darn thing might soar tomorrow but like they always say 'nobody ever went broke taking a profit'.

Actually, now that I look at it, we've been having a pretty nice 12 months.  Sure hasn't felt like it...

[expat_panama]

Good morning all, while most commodity futures are off, stock futures are a bit 'on' --a hopeful sign after yesterday's zero change.   Lots of morning reading (ok, scanning)...

Asian stocks down over fears of Fed stimulus cut

Obama: Income inequality a defining challenge
The Young Aren't Buying Obama's Devotion - Editorial, Investor's Business
Look Twice @ Most Hated Market In World - Matthew Lynn, MarketWatch
Krugman & Summers Revive Depression Idea - Caroline Baum, Bloomberg
Obama's Plan to Snatch Your Savings
Quantitative Easing and October Trade Results
Ron Paul: Bitcoin could 'destroy the dollar'

[expat_panama]

This morning looks solidly upbeat, and on yesterday's basing plus today's 'unemployment rate' [eye's roll back] we may end up with a pleasant week end...

Markets steady despite talk of US stimulus cut

Businessweek - 4:32am LONDON (AP) - Global stocks drifted lower Thursday as another round of strong U.S. economic data reinforced expectations that the U.S.

Economists React: 'No Momentum' in GDP Report

Wall Street Journal - 9:37am –There's no momentum here. Inventory accumulation was revised up from $86.0B to $116.5B, more than double the Q2 pace and unsustainable.