I am dying just to go to the grocery store and maybe even get a long overdue haircut. I'm feeling well enough that I may even try to return to doing this blog daily again, maybe starting tomorrow. I'll see how it goes and you can see whether you like the news daily as I used to give it or weekly as I've been giving it the past six months since my main computer went down.
Below is the usual week-ending succinct summation, and I am also returning to give a list of my daily comments compiled during the week. Hope everyone has been enjoying all the mild weather this weekend.
Succinct Summation of Week’s Events 2.17.17
Succinct Summations for the week ending February 17,
2017
Positives:
1. U.S. stocks closed at record highs, the S&P 500 advanced for the fourth straight week.
2. Jobless claims fell to 239k, the 4-week average is at 245.25k.
3. Housing permits rose 4.6% in January.
4. Retail sales rose 0.4% m/o/m.
5. December vehicles sales were revised up to +3.2%, but fell 1.4% in January.
6. Inflation showed up in producer prices, with PPU rising 0.6% m/o/m
7. Empire manufacturing survey came in at 18.7, above the 7.5 expected and the highest reading in two and a half years.
8. Philly Fed Business Outlook Survey came in at 48.3, the strongest reading since 1984!
9. NFIB small business optimism index rose to 105.9, its highest level since December 2004.
Negatives:
1. Industrial production fell 0.3% m/o/m.
2. CPI rose 0.6% m/o/m in January, double expectations. Y/o/y gain to 2.5%, the highest level in almost 5 years.
3. MBA mortgage purchase applications fell 5% w/o/w, with the refinancing share of activity falling to the lowest point since 2009.
4. Housing starts fell 2.6% to an annualized rate of 1.246M (but above the 1.232M epected)
5. Atlanta Fed GDPNow Q1 forecast fell to 2.4% from 2.7% last week and vs 3.4% in the week prior. Wall Street is about 2.0%
BUSINESS NEWS |
S&P 500 tops $20 trillion as Wall Street trades on
Trump
DJ: 20,412.16 +142.79 NAS: 5,763.96
+29.83 S&P: 2,328.25
+12.15 2/13
Q4 remaining on target for the strongest growth
in nine quarters combined with high hopes for pro-growth economic policies from
Trump have shot the Dow up another 142 points.
At 6.3 billion shares, volume was a little below recent averages as more
investors sit on the fence awaiting some specifics from Trump.
Apple, banks push Wall Street to all-time high
DJ: 20,504.41 +92.25 NAS: 5,782.57
+18.62 S&P: 2,337.58
+9.33 2/14
The Fed says that is is “unwise to wait too
long” to hike rates and that’s all Wall Street needed to start a flurry of
buying of bank stocks sending the Dow up another 92 points to another record
high. Apple logged its own record high
bolstering all the major indexes as well.
With 6.7 billion shares traded, volume was in line with recent
averages.
Wall Street rises further into
uncharted territory
DJ: 20,611.86 +107.45 NAS: 5,819.44
+36.87 S&P: 2,349.25
+11.67 2/15
Optimism
over Trump’s anticipated tax reforms and other economic policies prevailed for
the 5th consecutive session buoying the Dow another 107 points, in
fact pushing all three indexes to new all-time highs. Q4 is still going strong with its strongest
performance in 10 quarters and the Fed on record that interest rates will be
hiked soon is no longer a worry as overall fundamentals are quite strong. Volume at 7 billion is slightly above recent
averages.
Dow Jones barely notches sixth straight record high close
DJ: 20,619.77 +7.91 NAS: 5,814.90
-4.54 S&P: 2,347.22
-2.03 2/16
A sixthconsecutive run up on the Dow as an
improving economy and expectations that Trump will cut taxes continues to rally
the market, even though today it went way down before it came back up and ended
just about flat with a 7 point gain on the index. Perhaps investors are now awaiting some
specifics from the White House before placing any more bets on this so-called
revolutionary tax reform plan on which, as usual, no details have yet been
forthcoming. Q4 is just about done and
has come in gangbusters with a 7.3 percent increase, the most since Q3
’14. Though the expectation until
recently had been for an 8.5 percent increase, the shortfall this time has not
dampened enthusiasm. Volume at 6.9 billion
is just slightly ahead of recent averages.
Dow edges up to seventh straight record high
DJ: 20,624.05 +4.28 NAS: 5,838.58
+23.68 S&P: 2,351.16
+3.94 2/17
Just like yesterday, the market again dropped
almost a hundred points before rebounding and closing just a few points higher
than the previous close. Some call this
flat; I call it volatile as investors are doing early sell offs to protect
themselves against all the uncertainty in the political environment, then start
buying in again at the first sign of good news.
Since we’re already at record highs, even a few points on the plus side
makes for still another record, which is why the Dow has now seen its seventh
straight record high. All the news
favors financials which is where the gains have been, that combined with
continuing optimism that Trump’s expected policies will be good for the
economy. Volume was 6.4 billion, just a
little under recent averages.
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