Investment & Finance Thread (week Aug. 17 - Aug. 23 edition)

Weekly investment & finance thread ^ | Aug. 17, 2014 | Freeper Investors

[SomeCallMeTim]

FYI>>

Also, I feel compelled to ALERT this group to a new, MAJOR FLASHING RED ALERT sell signal.

As of this morning, SCMT is “fully invested”.

Certain DOOM is sure to befall the market.... soon.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

As of this morning, SCMT is “fully invested”.

Who is SCMT?

[SomeCallMeTim]

why... ME! Of course.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

LOL. That should have dawned on me.

[abb]

I’ve not gotten my reliable signal yet - my brother. He’s exactly wrong, every time.

Bought gold at the 1982 top.
Bought stocks during dotcom boom.
Called me and told me to sell in March of 2003, and again in March 2009, at the very bottom each time.

[1010RD]

FReepmail me with his latest recos, please.

[SomeCallMeTim]

I got a few of those correct, thanks to Bob Brinker, at MarketTimer.

But,in 2008? I blew it. Was OUT of the market in May/June... so proud of myself. I moved back in, fully... in August. Just saying that now scares me.....

Just today, I do this.. tell the world, and immediately our Sec of Def starts warning about terrorist attacks on the homeland... Great.

I now LIVE on a wall of worry.

[expat_panama]

Two articles in today's IBD that pertain to our discussions on U.S. employment numbers, from ObamaCare Slows Hiring, Raises Prices: Fed Surveys,

and this from Texas Is A Real Model For Economic Opportunity:

 

[expat_panama]

Early profit taking?  Sudden capital asset transition?  This morning's futures put metals strong and stock indexes off.  Looking closer at the indexes what's really there is that it's the S&P that's off but the Dow and NASDAQ are still positive.

Ah. A Good Morning and Happy Open Line Friday everyone --the plot thickens!!  No major reports scheduled for today after what's been a week of pretty good news.  Speaking of news:

• Bank of America settles securities case for $16.65B  Mohave Valley News - 1 hour ago WASHINGTON (AP) - The government has reached a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America over its role in the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
• Europe Stocks Pare Weekly Gain as Bonds, Copper Rise Bloomberg - 6:09am European stocks fell, paring their biggest weekly gain since February, while bonds advanced before a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.
• Investors cheer: S&P 500 hits all-time high- 9:40am If you kept your money in the stock market this summer, you're likely feeling pretty smart now. The start of August was rough for stocks as the Russia-Ukraine standoff, the Israel-Gaza conflict and terrorist group activity in Iraq all flared again.
• Lessons learned from UPS Store breach CSO Online - 9 hours ago The security breach discovered at a few dozen franchises of the UPS Store, a subsidiary of United Parcel Service, provides a number of lessons for other retailers. Reuters
• Gold near two-month low; set for weekly drop on interest rate…
• Still awash with cash, world economies take turn for the worse Japan's sank in the second quarter. Britain has wage deflation. In a world preoccupied by geopolitical crises - from Ukraine, Iraq and Gaza to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa - the global economy has taken something of a back seat. Many policymakers across the world would like to move away from… Reuters
• Why You Shouldn't Put All Your Money in Index Funds Stock index funds are performing superbly as the bull charges ahead. But don't look for them to protect you when the market stumbles. Kiplinger
• Investors flock to Vanguard, turning away from stock pickers The inflow has pushed mutual-fund giant Vanguard to almost $3 trillion in assets as investors step away from funds run by star managers.MarketWatch
• Sorry, But Corporate Cash Hoarding Is a Silly Myth - Jeff Dorfman, Forbes
• Wall St. Crackdown Really About Politics - Allister Heath, Daily Telegraph

[Wyatt's Torch]

Good stuff. Saw a big article on wages yesterday i need to find and post.

[Wyatt's Torch]

DJ00 -5 this morning. They know we know... ;-)

[Wyatt's Torch]

No major reports bu Yellen at Jackson Hole is the biggest thing of the month.

DB preview:

[expat_panama]

hmmm, wondering why the two have never been seen at the same place and same time...

[Wyatt's Torch]

Yellen:

[expat_panama]

"...the dual mandate..."

We always hear about how legisation back in the '70's required the fed to worry about employment as well as prices, but everyone seems to have forgotten that back then the fed was also required to eliminate the trade deficit too.  My thinking is that a T-D fuss is just too goofy for all concerned so everyone opted to just ignore the subject til it was forgot and went off the radar.

[expat_panama]

Here's what's on the docket:

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2014		FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2014		SATURDAY, AUGUST 23, 2014
6 p.m.	Opening Reception and Dinner	Chair:	Peter Blair Henry	Chair:	Christina D. Romer
			Dean, Stern School of Business,		Professor,
Host:	Esther George		New York University		University of California, Berkeley
	President and Chief Executive Officer,
	Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City	8 a.m.	Opening Remarks	8 a.m.	Scars From the Crisis
			Janet L.Yellen
			Chair,	Author:	Till Marco von Wachter
			Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System		Associate Professor,
					University of California, Los Angeles
		8:30 a.m.	Churn and the Functioning of Labor Markets
				Discussant:	Antonella Trigari
		Authors:	Steven J. Davis		Associate Professor,
			Professor,		Bocconi University
			University of Chicago
				8:35 a.m.	General Discussion
			John Haltiwanger
			Professor,	9 a.m.	Wage Dynamics
			University of Maryland
				Author:	Giuseppe Bertola
		Discussant:	Richard Rogerson		Professor,
			Professor,		EDHEC School of Business
			Princeton University
				9:45 a.m.	Discussant
		9:05 a.m.	General Discussion
				Discussant:	Mark Bils
		9:30 a.m.	Job Polarization		Professor,
					University of Rochester
		Author:	David Autor
			Professor,	10 a.m.	General Discussion
			Massachusetts Institute of Technology
				10:25 a.m.	Overview Panel: Labor Markets and Monetary Policy
		10:15 a.m.	Discussant
				Panelists:	Ben Broadbent
		Discussant:	Lisa M. Lynch		Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy,
			Professor,		Bank of England
			Brandeis University
					Haruhiko Kuroda
		10:30 a.m.	General Discussion		Governor,
					Bank of Japan
		10:55 a.m.	Panel on Demographics
					Alexandre Antonio Tombini
		Panelists:	Karen Eggleston		Governor,
			Professor,		Central Bank of Brazil
			Stanford University
				11:25 a.m.	General Discussion
			David Lam
			Professor,	2 p.m.	Adjournment
			University of Michigan
			Ronald D. Lee
			Professor,
			University of California, Berkeley
		11:55 a.m.	General Discussion
		12:30 p.m.	Luncheon Address
		Speaker:	Mario Draghi
			President,
			European Central Bank
		2 p.m.	Adjournment

[Wyatt's Torch]

Yellen word cloud:

[SomeCallMeTim]

Yes, clearly... they know we’re ON to them!

I think, they’re just testing. You know, to see if the market can stand on it’s own.

Hopefully, they will resume buying... soon.

[SomeCallMeTim]

Nice charts.... I actually still hear people trying to argue that ObamaCare is NOT a job killer.

Yea... right.

[expat_panama]

Actually, it’s really nothing new that with enough money, prestigious respected highly qualified experts can be paid to say the stupidest things for global warming, min.wage, obamacare, etc. What’s interesting to me is how so many other good, intelligent people accept and defend the dribble for free!