Adding Parsley Energy to my Jubak Picks Portfolio
When I set out to research and write my recent Special Report Five Sector Facing Disruption That Could Crush Your Portfolio I wanted to focus on the “destruction” side of the process of “creative destruction” that makes up economic growth in...
The Great (short-term) China Boom debate
Everybody seems to agree that things are looking up for the Chinese economy. The real disagreement is about how long this improvement might last and whether there’s any chance that the upturn might go from improvement to boom. Here’s some of the data that...
Permian goes from tepid to red hot again on Chevron bid for Anadarko
Chevron (CVX) has agreed to buy Anadarko Petroleum (APC) for $33 billion in cash and stock. On the news shares of Anadarko are up 32.5% to $61.85. Shares of Chevron are off 4.91% to $119.81.Meaured by oil and natural gas production, the deal puts Chevron neck-and-neck...
Making Incyte #9 on my 10 most dangerous stocks for earnings season list–and #5 on my buy on any plunge list
Today on my JubakAM.com subscription site I made Incyte #9 in my 10 Most dangerous Stocks for Earnings Season Special Report–and #5 on my Buy on Any Plunge Bonus Special Report. Here’s what I wrote: “There’s a good chance that Incyte (INCY)...
Numbers on factory orders and durable goods show economy remains in not-too-strong, not-too-weak Goldilocks track
Business investment remained weak according to this mornings report on durable goods. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft–a measure of business investment–remained weak in February, falling 0.1% for the month. However, shipments of...
Jobs numbers show solid but slow growth in U.S. economy
The U.S. economy added 196,000 net new jobs in March. That’s a huge increase from the 33,000 jobs added in February (revised upward from the original 20,000) and showed that the plunge in the February jobs total was an aberration. Economists surveyed by...
Unsettling market risk potential for Thursday and Friday
Today, Wednesday April 3, action in the three legs that support stocks near the highs for 2019 pointed toward significant risk for Thursday and Friday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed the day up 0.21% at 2873. Leg 1 for the market: The financials,...
Is President Trump serious about closing the U.S. border with Mexico?
President Trump has ordered White House officials to find a way to shut the U.S. border with Mexico while exempting commercial trade from the closure. I don’t know if the President is serious–it could be a negotiating ploy designed to bring pressure on...
Selling Diamondback Energy out of my Jubak Picks portfolio today
Diamondback Energy (FANG) made #5 in my Special Report on the 10 most dangerous stocks this earnings season that I’m posting on my paid JubakAM.com site. And I’m selling it out of my Jubak Picks Portfolio today, April 1. If you’re looking for...
The world’s bond markets stop to think about whether the rally has gone too far
It’s all my fault. I go away for two days to tour colleges with my daughter, and global bond markets soar as everybody in the world decides to seek safety simultaneously. Today’s pause has very little to do with my return to my desk. The rise in bond...
Global trade growth continues to slow in three months through January
The figures are short-term and tentative but the trend isn’t good. Global trade volume fell 1.8% in the three months through January from the previous three months, according to the World Trade Monitor from the statistics office of the Netherlands. That’s...
Today markets see recession warning in inversion of the yield curve
It was always implicit in the Federal Reserve’s decision on Wednesday that all interest increase in 2019 were off the table and that the central bank would end its $50 billion a month balance sheet run off in September. Yeah, lower interest rates are a boost to...
Odds for a Fed interest rate cut don’t move much overnight–but that’s because a huge move has already happened
The Federal Reserve’s announcement that it would hold interest rates steady for 2019, that it would end its program to wind down the size of its balance sheet by $50 billion a month in September, and that it projects the economy will grow by just 2.1% in 2019...
Has the Fed panicked? Should investors?
Let’s remind ourselves of exactly how big a policy u-turn the Federal Reserve has steered in the last three months. In December the Fed was looking at 2 interest rate increases in 2019 and an announcement of an end to its balance sheet run off by, maybe,...
The Fed’s increased worries don’t scare Goldilocks markets
Today, March 20, the Federal Reserve left benchmark interest rates at the current 2.25% to 2.5% range at the meeting of the Open Market Committee, but cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth in 2019 and voiced concern about slowing consumer and business spending....
No March meeting on trade deal for Trump and Xi
A potential end of March meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to sign an agreement to end their trade war won’t take place this month after all. Media are reporting that multiple sources are now post to April at the earliest.If...
Durables orders good for stocks and economy
Orders for durable goods rose 0.4% in January, the Census Bureau reported this morning. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had projected a 0.6% decrease. Ex-transportation new orders, which means excluding volatile aircraft orders (for January remember and therefore...
Chaos in the U.K.: May loses another Brexit vote
Well, the vote was closer this time. After losing a vote on her Brexit deal by 230 votes in January, Parliament only defeated Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal by 391 to 242 votes. Which still means that the United Kingdom is set to crash out of the European...
Drop in fear in credit markets isn’t a good sign at this point in the credit cycle
The level of fear among the managers of funds that buy investment-grade and high-yield debt has sunk to its lowest level since 2014, according to the Bank of America’s March survey of fund managers. “The most notable change in our fresh survey of U.S. credit...
Shockingly low February jobs report this morning–but what’s the trend?
The U.S. economy added only 20,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported this morning. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected 173,000 jobs for the month. In January the economy added 304,000 jobs. The huge swing left economists and Wall Street...
Just a reminder of how much of a speculative casino China can be
Overnight the Shanghai stock market, as measured by the Shanghai Composite Index, fell 4.4%. (Which took down other Asian markets. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was down 2.33%.) That’s a substantial drop, no? Causes? First, a huge drop in China’s...
U.S. trade deficit soars: I think that makes a U.S.-China trade deal more likely
In December the U.S. trade deficit widened to $59.8 billion from a revised $50.3 billion in November. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had projected a December deficit of $57.8 billion. The December deficit is the widest monthly deficit since October 2008 during...
China tweaks growth target lower to 6%-6.5% from last year’s 6.6%
Against the setting of the National People’s Congress, which opened today, China’s leaders announced that the growth target for the economy in 2019 would be 6%-6.5%, down slightly from the 2018 target of 6.6%. That dip is significant since the Chinese...
Stocks rethink China bounce
Stocks started off the day rallying on speculation that a U.S.-China trade deal was near conclusion. Market consensus was that the deal would be signed by President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping by the end of March. The United States would lift tariffs on...
Mostly good news on the U.S. economy even in ISM manufacturing slip today
The Institute for Supply Management Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing fell to 54.2 in February from 56.6 in January. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were looking for 56 on the index. (On this index anything above 50 signals expansion in the sector; below...
I’m thinking of selling some of my China positions. But when?
As of the close on March 1, the Shanghai Composite was up 14.35% for the last month. That’s super for an economy that’s swimming in bad debt and facing a slowing global economy and lagging export demand.I think it’s fair to say that the rally in...
Today’s economic numbers from U.S. (good) and China (bad)
The first (advanced) estimate of U.S. GDP for the fourth quarter showed the U.S. economy growing at a 2.6% annual rate. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast 2.3% growth. For all of 2018 the economy grew at a real rate (that is after inflation) of 2.9% in...
So what’s it gonna be in U.S.-China trade talks? Historic agreement? Middling deal? Failure?
The Trump administration isn’t making it any easier to handicap the results of the U.S.-China trade talks. Yesterday U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer tried to walk back expectations for the talks. There’s not even an agreement on a Memorandum of...
The Fed’s minutes surprise, imagine that
As surprises go today’s release of the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its January meeting doesn’t rank up there with Agatha Christie. (Remember 10 Little Indians? Where the murderer turns out to be someone who had earlier faked his own murder?) But...Jim’s Daily Email Alerts:
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