August 8, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
U.S. stocks rallied strongly today, Thursday, August 8, after the People's Bank of China set its daily reference rate for its currency at 7.0039 to the dollar. That was stronger than the 7.0156 yuan to the dollar overnight estimate of 21 analysts and trader surveyed...
August 7, 2019 | Daily JAM |
More tweets today from President Donald Trump in his campaign to pressure the Federal Reserve into more aggressive cuts to interest rates. “Incompetence is a terrible thing to watch, especially when things could be taken care of sooo easily. We will WIN anyway,” the...
August 7, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
Shares of Apple (AAPL) climbed 0.21% to lead the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK) higher by 0.40% as of 2 p.m. trading in New York. That helped disguise what is otherwise a return to the risk off trading of Monday after Tuesday's rally--although with smaller...
August 6, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
Stocks rallied today on signs that the People's Bank intends to deliver an orderly drop in China's currency. This morning the yuan traded slightly above the critical 7 yuan to the dollar currency band. And the bank said it will sell $4.2 billion in yuan bills in Hong...
August 5, 2019 | Daily JAM, Short Term |
It would be unwise to assume that today's retaliation by China is the last tit for tat in the U.S.-China war. What "reasonable" fears are making rounds today? That the Chinese decision to let the yuan break the 7-yuan-to-the-dollar barrier isn't the end of the slide...
July 29, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
We don't know--precisely--what the Federal Reserve will do at the meeting of its interest-rating-setting Open Market Committee on Wednesday July 31. The odds on the CME FedWatch Tool say there's a 100% chance of an interest rate cut but there's still disagreement...
July 16, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term |
At a cabinet meeting today President Donald Trump wanted to remind everyone that he could still impose additional tariffs on Chinese imports if he wants. The President also expressed impatience that the truce in the trade war with China hadn't yet resulted in a pickup...
July 12, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Trade analysts call Singapore's export-driven economy the canary in the coal mine for the global economy. In which case that canary is looking kind of wobbly lately. Singapore's GDP contracted at an annualized 3.4% rate in the second quarter. That's the biggest...
July 10, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Short Term, Volatility, You Might Have Missed |
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell had an opportunity this morning to talk down the odds of an interest rate cut at the central bank's July 31 meeting in testimony in front of the House Financial Services Committee. He didn't--and I think that makes a 25 basis point...
June 18, 2019 | CTVA, Daily JAM, Special Reports, Volatility, You Might Have Missed |
This isn't time for investing as usual. As whacky as the first half of 2019 has been--the Federal Reserve embraces interest rate cuts, the U.S. and China descend further into a trade war, the U.S. economy turns in better than 3% growth but fears for a slowdown in...
May 27, 2019 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
U.S. financial markets are closed today for Memorial Day. (Can't help but think of my Dad who climbed telephone poles to string wire during World War II. "While they shot at me," he would say with a mixture of surprise and outrage. I'm sure you have someone(s) to...
May 3, 2019 | Daily JAM, GLD, Perfect Five-ETFs |
Maybe investors are in love with the U.S. stock market--but global central banks are as enthusiastic about the U.S. Dollar. In the first quarter gold purchases by global central banks were the highest in six years. The move into gold seems to come from a desire to...