November 13, 2020 @ 7:17 pm | Breaking News |
The question has been How long would it be before the surge in new coronavirus infections forced states to re-institute the lockdowns and “stay at home” orders they used to contain earlier spikes in the pandemic? The answer, I’d say, is that a new...
October 30, 2020 @ 7:23 pm | Breaking News, You May Have Missed |
The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed down 1.21% today and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.59%. The NASDAQ Composite was lower by 2.45% and the NASDAQ 100 fell 2.54%. The Russell 2000 small cap index tumbled by 1.96%. The rising tide of new...
August 10, 2020 @ 7:56 pm | Breaking News |
On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added 1.8 million jobs in July. Not a bad number, on an absolute scale. 1.8 million jobs is a lot of jobs. And the total did beat economists’ expectations by about 300,000 jobs. But…...
July 24, 2020 @ 7:53 pm | Breaking News |
The Senate left Washington yesterday without putting its plan for the next coronavirus aid package on the table. That guarantees, in case you had any doubt, that the enhanced $600 a week unemployment benefit that, for practical purposes, expires with today’s...
July 23, 2020 @ 7:08 pm | Breaking News |
Too much news today. But let me start. Today the Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment through regular state programs rose to 1.42 million in the week ended July 18. That was a 109,000 increase from the prior week and the first increase in the...
July 13, 2020 @ 7:32 pm | Breaking News |
On Sunday, Florida reported the highest single-day total of new coronavirus cases by any state since the start of the pandemic. The 15,299 new cases surpassed the previous high for any state on a single day of 12,274 recorded in New York on April 4. The record comes...
July 9, 2020 @ 7:24 pm | Breaking News |
These days you can’t read an economic report, especially a jobs report, without a calendar. Today’s report on initial claims for unemployment — a weekly number for the week ended July 4–showed that new claims for unemployment continued their...
July 8, 2020 @ 7:52 pm | Breaking News |
Today what I’m calling “re-opening dependent” stock fell again. At least in the early going. Toward the end of session–like yesterday–these stocks and stocks in general rallied. Which in and of itself tells us something important about...
July 1, 2020 @ 7:48 pm | Breaking News, You May Have Missed |
Just in case you were wondering if the market is counting on a coronavirus vaccine in the nearer term, wonder no longer. (Expectations, for the moment, look to a vaccine by January, if I can judge by comments I’m seeing.) News from Pfizer (PFE) and partner...
July 1, 2020 @ 7:35 pm | AAPL, Breaking News |
I’m using Apple (AAPL) as one indicator for the state of the re-opening economy. Apple’s decision today to re-close 30 more of its stores in seven states, including Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah,...
June 29, 2020 @ 6:55 pm | Breaking News |
The advice “Don’t fight the Fed” makes sense. If the Fed is flooding the financial markets with cash, then buy and follow along as the Fed makes money available to drive up asset prices. If the Fed is tightening, reducing the available supply of...
June 26, 2020 @ 7:21 pm | Breaking News |
With Texas setting a one-day high for new coronavirus cases on Wednesday at 6,584 Governor Greg Abbott reversed a pledge that that going “backward” and closing down businesses was “the last thing we want to do.” Effective today bars must close (although they can...
June 24, 2020 @ 7:24 pm | Breaking News |
In May governments shed more than 570,000 workers as states and cities grappled with huge budget shortfalls created by the coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns of economic activity imposed in an effort to get the outbreak under control. those layoffs are going to get...
June 19, 2020 @ 6:59 pm | AAPL, Breaking News, You May Have Missed |
Nothing sums up the uncertainty of the re-opening economy and the continued coronavirus pandemic than news today that Apple (AAPL) is temporarily again shutting some of its U.S. retail stores. The 11 closed stores are in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina and South...
June 18, 2020 @ 6:59 pm | Breaking News |
If the contests between the stock market–which sees a rapid V-shaped recovery for the economy–and the Federal Reserve–which sees a slow recovery very stretching over two years, today’s report on New Claims for Unemployment comes down on slow...
June 18, 2020 @ 6:56 pm | Breaking News |
It wasn’t a day for big moves in U.S. stocks. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed ahead 0.06% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished off 0.15%, for example. Nobody wants to get every far ahead of the trend–whichever direction it’s...
June 17, 2020 @ 7:40 pm | Breaking News |
I’m as much in favor of reality as the next guy. Maybe more so. And during the coronavirus pandemic and the current economic re-opening I’ve been scarfing up every bit of data that I can. I begin my day by digging into the latest news of cases n Arizona,...
June 16, 2020 @ 7:53 pm | Breaking News |
May retail sales surged 17.7% from April. The pickup was a record month over month gain in data going back to 1992, the Commerce Department reported this morning. Stocks jumped on the news–as well as a trial balloon testing the waters on yet another attempt at a...
June 11, 2020 @ 7:39 pm | Breaking News, Volatility, You May Have Missed |
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits continued to trend lower with 1.54 million workers applying in the week ended June 6. That’s down from 1.9 million initial claims in the prior week. (Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had projected 1.55 million...
June 9, 2020 @ 7:19 pm | Breaking News, Jubak Picks Portfolio, V |
Visa’s ads remind up that the credit card is everywhere you want to be. But that’s actually not true when it comes to payments below $10. In the United States 55% of payments below $10 are still in cash. Visa has targeted that as a huge opportunity for...
June 5, 2020 @ 7:19 pm | Breaking News |
The U.S. economy added 2.5 million jobs in May, the Labor Department reported today. The official rate of unemployment fell to 13.3% from 14.7%. In April the economy had shed 20.5 million jobs. Economists were surprised by the gains, to put it mildly. The consensus...
June 4, 2020 @ 7:44 pm | Breaking News |
Initial claims for unemployment for regular state programs totaled 1.88 million for the week ended May 30, according to the Labor Department. (This total does not include self-employed or gig workers that are now receiving unemployment under newly passed coronavirus...
May 27, 2020 @ 7:51 pm | Buy Hold Sell |
Jim’s Extras are something new that I’ve added to JubakPicks.com. Jim’s Extras are posts that provide a wider economic or market analysts than the normal diet here of stock specific posts or posts that cover the day’s market moves. Like...
April 23, 2020 @ 6:44 pm | Breaking News |
A new survey from CBS News shows that most Americans would be reluctant to head out to former activities even if stay-at-home orders were lifted now. Only 13%, for instance, would be comfortable going to a large sports or entertainment event if a stay-at-home order...