Morning Briefing
This morning’s optimism about coronavirus stimulus talks fades in the afternoon but market still closes the day with a gain
This morning stocks moved up strongly on reports that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were about to resume talks over a new coronavirus stimulus package. As of noon, the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 1.31% and the Dow Jones...
Downward momentum in stocks looks stalled–trend depends on news flow and the dollar
Today, Monday, September 28, as of 1:15 p.m. New York time the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 1.60% to trade at 3352.78. Along with Friday's 1.60% gain in the index, I think that shows the market's downward momentum stalled for the moment. Only for the moment,...
Stocks rally today–but I’d feel better if volume was higher and the same old big techs weren’t leading the day
Today looks like a strong rally but I've got my doubts. At the close the Standard & Poor's 500 was up 1.60%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 1.34%. The technology laden NASDAQ Composite was higher by 2.26%. The NASDAQ 100, dominated by the technology...
Jobs market recovery continues to slow in today’s report on initial claims for unemployment
This morning the Labor Department reported that another 870,000 workers filed new applications for state-run unemployment insurance for the week ended September 19. (That's on a adjusted basis.) That compares to 866,000 initial claims in the prior week. Another...
Looks like no government shutdown on September 30: House passes stopgap funding bill that has Senate and White House agreement
Tuesday night the House of Representatives passed a stopgap funding bill to keep the government operating through December 11. The House vote was 359-57 and the legislation now goes to the Senate for a vote before the end of the fiscal year on September 30 forces a...
Stocks take a while but deliver expected bounce today
This morning it looked like we might not get the bounce I expected today after the Monday morning sell off and Monday afternoon recovery. The NASDAQ, dominated by the big tech names most likely to bounce today, started Tuesday off in a mild downturn. As of 11:07 a.m....
Partisan battle over Supreme Court seat puts end to slim chance of new coronavirus rescue package–and threatens government shutdown bill
Last week, before the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, there was a slight--ooh so slight--chance that with a nod from the White House in favor of adding more money to the proposal from Senate Republicans Congress might pass a new coronavirus rescue...
Trump administration ratchets up tension with China again
The Trump administration will ban China’s TikTok and WeChat from mobile app stores beginning this Sunday, September 20. The White House will  also take other actions to restrict the use of WeChat, the ubiquitous messaging service owned by Tencent Holdings (TCEHY)....
Newest initial claims for unemployment numbers seem to show slowing rate of improvement in economy
There'd nothing very clear about the trend in today's report on new claims for unemployment in the week ended on September 12. (The period is important because it coincides with the survey period for the monthly jobs report for September.) The number of Americans...
Stock market rethinks its initial enthusiasm for Fed outlook
At 2:30 p.m. New York time, about the time the Federal Reserve issued its press statement on today's meeting of the Fed's interest rate setting body the Open Market Committee and about the time when Fed chair Jerome Powell issued his comments on the meeting, stocks...
Domestic economy shows signs of speeding up in China
China's retail sales gained 0.5% year over year in August. That's the first growth in retail sales since the coronavirus hit early in 2020. Industrial production in China rose 5.6% for the month from August 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. In the...Jim’s Stock Alerts
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