There is an obvious relationship between supply and demand. In the rental housing market, demand is eroding supply at a rapid rate according to recent data – likely due to changing demographics and preferences. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is based 40% on housing costs – so the logical conclusion is that a rapid rise in inflation is just around the corner. The trigger for this post was a Business Insider graphic Here’s The Single Biggest Threat To Inflation which stated in part: Renting is all the rage these days, and the tightening of the residential rental market is the biggest threat to inflation, according to Ian ...
by James Preciado and Jeff Baron , U.S. EIA Since August, both crude oil and currency markets have been influenced by lower economic growth expectations in countries outside the United States. Prices in both markets recently broke out of established trading ranges, driven by concerns about weaker future global demand. The current situation, with the dollar index and oil prices moving in opposite directions, presents a sharp contrast to one in which crude oil supply disruptions or geopolitical risks would cause both the dollar index and crude prices to rise. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, based on Bloomberg Note: The U...
Australia-based e-commerce platform Bigcommerce today announced raising $50 million (USD) in Series D funding. The company will use the funds to invest in product development, grow sales and marketing, and expand its business to new markets. The financing was led by SoftBank Capital, a venture firm affiliated with SoftBank Corp., and included Telstra Ventures and American Express, as well as existing investors General Catalyst and Revolution Growth. Steve Murray, a partner at SoftBank Capital, will join the Bigcommerce board. “Bigcommerce’s easy-to-use, cloud-based platform allows businesses of all sizes to rapidly build and deploy full-...
Podcast: Play in new window | Play in new window (Duration: 13:17 — 6.1MB) DOW + 91 = 17,810 SPX + 10 = 2063 NAS + 11 = 4712 10 YR YLD – .02 = 2.32% OIL + .77 = 76.62 GOLD + 5.80 = 1201.30 SILV + .15 = 16.50 Record highs for the Dow and the S&P. China has cut interest rates for the first time in more than 2 years. The first thought is that China is trying to stimulate growth for a slowing economy. However, in making the announcement, the People’s Bank of China tried to emphasize that the economy is growing within a reasonable range, and the rate cut was not about spurring growth. Instead, they emphasized the need to reduce corpo...
I spent most of Wednesday between the computer repair shop, the Doubletree hotel where an investor day was being held by one of our recommended companies, and Bloomberg’s offices and mine, all a short walking distance from each other. It was bitter cold. But given the weather in Buffalo, I figure I got off lightly. However, I refused an invitation to bundle up again so we could be treated to dinner by our son, who is visiting. I preferred to simply cook. A week from today is the heaviest traffic day of the year, when US families gather together to feast on turkey and give thanks. What makes it worse for us is that we will head north to ...
This information was originally sent to subscribers on Nov. 14, 2014. Oil Market Conditions and Opportunities Oil prices are in a period of strong decline. That has hurt the prices of energy companies generally, as you see in the following chart. West Texas Intermediate Crude (gold line) is down about 23% YTD, and that has flattened the return on the S&P 500 Energy Sector (black line) taking about 15% off its YTD total return. Energy has underperformed the S&P 500 since the oil price broke. A fundamental question is whether the break in oil and the underperformance of energy is an opportunity or a good way to lose money. We te...
Big-tech behemoth Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) leapfrogged ExxonMobil Corporation (XOM) last week to become the second-largest company in the world by market cap. MSFT stock weighs in at a valuation of $405 billion compared to $402 billion for XOM stock. Both still have a long way to go before catching up with Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) world-leading $671 billion market cap, but the reversal is telling. Just a year ago, Exxon was considered the bluest of blue chips, and Microsoft was a tech dinosaur that had been left in the dust by Apple, Google (GOOG) and others. But today, with crude oil prices in freefall and with Microsoft resurgent under CEO...
The Chart of the Day belongs to Validus Holdings (NYSE:VR). I found the stock by sorting the All Time High list for the best Barchart technical buy signals then used the Flipchart feature to review the charts. Since the Trend Spotter signaled a buy on 9/26 the stock gained 4.09%. Validus Holdings, Ltd., through its principal operating subsidiary Validus Reinsurance, Ltd., is a global provider of short-tail lines of reinsurance including property catastrophe, property pro-rata and property per risk, marine and energy, and other specialty lines. Validus was formed in December following the significant natural catastrophes of 2005 with an experi...
For all the obfuscation surrounding the topic of stock buybacks and corporations returning record amounts of cash to their shareholders, the bottom line is as simple as it gets. This is what you are taught in CFO 101 class: if you see organic growth opportunities for your business, or if you want to maintain the asset quality generating your cash flows, you invest in (either maintenance or growth) capex. if there are no such opportunities, you return cash to investors (or, maybe spend a little on M&A unless you are Valeant (VRX) in which case you spend everything and then much more). That’s it. Well, based on this shocking chart fro...
Promises of additional monetary easing measures seem to arrive on a weekly basis, providing a boost to share prices globally as investors are encouraged to take on more risk. At the same time, we’re seeing increasing signs of a global slowdown. History has taught us that the “stock market is not the economy.” We are seeing perhaps the most extreme example of this today. Global Easing China is the latest country to join the global easing party, lowering its one-year benchmark deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.75%. Back in June, the ECB moved to negative interest rates. Mario Draghi is ramping up his “whatever it takes” rhetor...