More and More Crude
Posted On Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at at 11:04 AM by Finance FanaticDespite massive deflation in most every consumer demanded product (housing, cars, commodities, food), crude continues to find ways to climb higher. Crude futures top the $70 mark again, which as a result, does not weather well for the consumer. All beaten down consumers need now, is increasing oil prices to boost up the price of gas and rob them more of their discretionary income. We already know consumer credit is down with record rates, saving rates are record high, and income is getting less and less. With increasing oil prices, there will be no more money left to circulate in the actual money supply, thus boosting the overall economy. I can only see this recent blast in crude prices lasting for a very short period. We saw oil futures get massively manipulated in 2007 and 2008, so we should not forget its easy vulnerability.
Volume remains critically low in market trading today as investors are finding it difficult to find things to buy these days. I don't expect volume to remain low for very much longer as we are heading into the busy season for hedge funds and Investment Banks. Considering that 200,000 jobs are still getting slashed every month, I don't see consumer income improving anytime soon. Thus, continued struggles into 2010.
Consumer Credit - The Double Edged Sword
Posted On Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at at 12:40 PM by Finance FanaticI hope everyone had a good holiday weekend, as Labor Day usually marks as the "official" end to summer. I know in my line of business it seems as if all are rallying to get sorted to prepare for the end of year actions. The stock market seems to not mind September thus far as it rallied into the close on Friday and has opened and closed up in the green today.
Much of the rallying Friday, came from the better than expected unemployment number, which I had warned about on Thursday. Also, Friday was the lightest day of trading (volume) of the year thus far, so to see it swing is not too surprising. In tonight's premium podcast (subscribe here), I will discuss more about the employment debacle and why Friday wasn't not as good as it seemed.
Today, consumer credit came in down at record low levels for July. Consumer debt fell $21.55 billion in July to $2.47 trillion. This is a record drop and serves as the sixth straight monthly drop. Credit cards alone fell 8.5%. This is a big reason why I have been very bearish on credit card companies the past few months, regardless of how they're stocks have been performing.
It is clear that credit is tightening and continues to tighten, which is very dangerous when you consider how deep we are in this recession. If such a recovery that many believe is indeed here, credit would most likely be flowing to consumers with much more ease. But as I have pointed out time and time again, this recover is leaving the consumer behind, which will eventually come back to bite us. Greed in Wall Street is once again trying to lead this ship back with its captain left behind. Mark my words, in my opinion, when we do find ourselves in a recovery, the consumer will be in the center of it.
It is clear at this point that the consumer is getting drained more and more of disposable income. Credit was our largest source of spending to spur growth. Sure, in the long run it is better that people are acquiring less debt, but unfortunately, these "wise budgeting" practices, will only decay this economy further at this point. The government can only spend their way out of this for so long.
One loan that continues to be available are student loans. Government backing have made college loans still available, however, even those have tightened a bit. Also, due to the large demand of people wanting to return to school, considering jobs are far and few between, enrollment admissions have been competitive. Thus, online education has also become much more popular. Happy Trading.
The End of Another Government Program
Posted On Monday, September 7, 2009 at at 5:10 PM by Finance FanaticThe government launched the recent program called "Cash for Clunkers", which gave consumers the opportunity to turn in their old "clunker" for up to $4500 credit towards the purchase of a new car. The program was such a hit that the initial funds were all used up within weeks of its initial launch and required Congress to vote and allocate more funds to the program.
After about a month of the popular program the new funds were completely depleted. So far, just a few hundred thousand cars sold is all we've seen from the program and unfortunately, in the end, it probably put several already struggling consumers, further into debt.
The government will need to be very active to help LEAD the economy out of this recession, but it needs to do just that, lead it. I believe they should focus more on getting more money into the consumer's hands and focus on how to reduce small business expenses to help encourage increase in the circulation of money. However, as a result, you can believe that 2010 Chevrolet Camaro and Porsche have benefited from the government program. Overall, we may have seen another several hundred billion down the drain. Check out the GMC Terrain Review and the 2010 Mercedes Benz GLK Review, as the cars look to be getting better going into the future.
Unemployment Anxiety
Posted On Thursday, September 3, 2009 at at 9:04 PM by Finance FanaticI apologize for the missed post yesterday. I am attending the ICSC West Coast real estate conference and have been preoccupied with hearing about the destruction of commercial real estate happening all around the country. The media can say whatever they want, but coming from the horse's mouth, there are some dark, dark days awaiting the commercial real estate market.
After two rather strong days of selling which we saw on Tuesday and Wednesday, the market was able to bounce back slightly today by having the Dow end up a bit over 60 points. However, the trading was mixed throughout the day and did spend some of the day in the red. The green day today does not dispute the probable trend of a turn around at this point, especially when you consider that higher volume levels have accompanied selling in recent trading days.
Everybody anxiously awaits the employment numbers being released tomorrow. Best case scenario, is that the number comes in around the 200,000 jobless mark, which in that case, the market would most likely cheer. However, when you think of how discouraging that number really is and that the unemployment market continues to lose jobs at such a violent level, it makes it hard to cheer about anything. Also, keep in my mind that we are going into a holiday weekend, which usually makes investors nervous to hold investments over the long weekend. On the flip side, volume will most likely remain low, due to traveling, which could prime the market for large market manipulation to push their weight around. I expect the unemployment number to be the main decision maker of where we head. I don't see a lot of optimism for September as year end pressures begin to pile up. Oh yea, and redemptions...Happy Trading,
Discouraging Signals in Wall Street
Posted On Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at at 11:34 AM by Finance FanaticAfter what looked to be a rally to open the day on Tuesday, investors have responded with some vicious selling thus far, putting the Dow lower about 160 points currently. I believe this to be a collective response to what we've seen recently in China, as well as threatening deflationary signals with lowering commodities. Oil is struggling once again today, which I believe is the beginning of problems for energy for the next few months. Financials have also taken a beating today, which has caused FAZ to finally have strong day of rallying.
There was mixed news today, which clearly did not settle well with investors. Supply Management's monthly manufacturing index actually rose for August, however, new construction showed a drop in outlays. Future home sales also came in worse than expected, which is a disappointment for the many believing that we are out of the woods for residential. With the mixture of these, the overall belief in the market being very overbought at this point has caused selling throughout all sectors.
Job Openings at $75K to $500K+
Historically, September has been more of a foe than a friend to Wall Street. Since 1900, the Dow has fallen an average of 1.1% in the month of September. Considering we have been on quite a buying ride in a tumultuous market, and signals are pointing to deflationary down spiraling, September could be a month many would like to forget. Sustained selling for multiple days will be a serious indicator of a turn. Happy Trading.