Posted on 12/18/2013 1:16:37 PM PST by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow and the S&P 500 closed at all-time highs on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced a small reduction in its stimulus program, confirming that the U.S. economy was on firm footing.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Meanwhile in the real world, the shares of Ford and GM went down today, with Ford collapsing more than 6%, due to the company’s lower-profit warnings for next year.
So, the automobile companies are expected to have a bad 2014, and the health-insurance companies can’t do well either since so few ObamaCare registrations are being recorded. Which to the Fed apparently means, happy days are here again.
...big wheel keep on turn'n...gravy-train keep'on roll'in!
Merry Christmas Holiday!,
...from Ben's Family to Yours Ben's business ass ociates and their families!
...as for the rest of you...
"If they'd rather die, then they had better do it...and decrease the surplus population"
Fed tapering is now views as proof that the economy is on a firm footing? Maybe I am old school, but I always look to employment, economic growth, productivity. Watching the Fed’s actions for indications about the strength of the economy is kind of like seeking your friend’s opinion about how pretty a girl is. USE YOUR OWN EYES!
Ah, Ford...
14 new product launches total i.e. Mustang, F150, Edge, etc. and the cost for tooling / plant will bite into it....
This “tapering” is like promising to go on a diet where you have been eating 10 chocolate cakes a week but you promise to “taper” it down to eating 9 chocolate cakes a week.
They told you to sell you should have bought what were you thinking.
A more "market" type comment...
The markets hate uncertainty. We now have a 2 year budget even though we think it stinks, it denotes Fiscal Normalcy ( of sorts ). Now Helicopter Ben denotes slight tapering, which could be construed as Monetary Normalizing. The 2 are the exogenous forces that could effect their ability to do business. These are at least on the surface, minimized.
With that said the drinks will flow, to you and I it is a form of insanity with all the other exogenous factors, but to them it is now party on...
However, you just pointed out why it is not so insane (normalizing, etc.)
I have seen how over the last 5 years when Obama fails Wall Street rejoices. This happened with the failure of cap and trade, extension of Bush tax cuts, failure to close Guantanamo, even gun control...and now Obamacare.
Makes sense to me.
Most of the new money is in the stock market. When the market does tank then the money goes to the stores. And the lenders. And the car lots. Etc.
My thoughts exactly. A $10 billion dollar a month cut means the politically connected are STILL getting $75 billion per month. And I seriously doubt that printed $10 billion will vanish out of the bond buying nonsense. Most likely it will end up propping up some other part of the stock market.
Most of my net worth is in equities (80% U.S., 15% Asia, 5% other), so I did very well today. And I've done quite well during Obama's Presidency. Why, I don't know. Obama gets no credit from me; as far as I'm concerned, my financial success under his hegemony has nothing to do with his policies.
The recent run-up in stock prices, if anything, makes me more cautious. Time to take some profits, and build up some cash?
Initial reaction was a steep drop in the DOW, I wouldn’t be surprised if the FED bought that whole rally...a gift to the incoming crop duster.
There are other reasons to cut the bond buying.
1. They can’t afford to keep borrowing for welfare AND buying their debt, so now they’ll only borrow to feed people.
2. You can’t have a fifth “recovery summer” and have bailouts and be taken seriously.
3. Tapering off the bond buying lets them say the economy recovered a year after Obama’s re-election.
SEll everything, move to Mars.
I don’t know. Just remember, don’t panic.
Jellystone could erupt at any time.. Or not.
Not me. I got off margin a few weeks ago, and I might go to 10-15% cash, or maybe even buy some physical gold. But my bias remains long in equities. Every instinct tells me that stock prices shouldn't be going up, but they are, and I'm not going to throw myself in front of the train.
Thank you, don’t forget to tip your waitress, I’ll be here all week!!
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