More on the fiscal cliff talks: The President's opening bid - delivered this afternoon by Tim Geithner - calls for a $1.6T tax increase, a $50B economic-stimulus program, and delivering to the WH the power to raise the federal debt limit without congressional approval. It's a "step backward," says Mitch McConnell. It sounds more like what it's described as: An opening bid. [View news story]
"...and the spending cuts are..." ====> more spending
This is incorrect. The prior month was revised down from 162k to 88k (a net downward revision of 74k). Also, ADP canceled 365k private jobs created in 2012 YTD. Had ADP used its revised methodology, it would have missed 5 out of the past 7 Wall Street consensus estimates. Funny how the media doesn't focus much on this information.
The U.S. is heading towards fiscal disaster and no one in Washington is doing anything about it, warns a trio of experts. Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson - authors the Simpson-Bowles reform plan - along with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein are concerned that investors are putting way too much faith in Congress and the White House to work out a deal. Those people are just "whistling around the market" right now, and they're likely to get creamed, Simpson notes. "They really believe honestly that no Congress could be this stupid, and by God, they can.” [View news story]
I don't know if any of you are watching the Vice Presidential debate, but the moderator is terrible. Interrupting Congressman Ryan constantly and clearly favoring Democrats. Very unprofessional. Also, Biden is incredibly disrespectful. He's a disgrace of a VP. He needs to learn public manners because it's embarrassing to think he's our VP. I am more right leaning (shocker, I know), but I would say the same thing if this debate were skewed towards Republicans. Any thoughts?
The phone is not much different than the 4s. I'd still buy the 4s over the 5. A lot of people buying the 5 are the people that need the newest tech gadget and like to show off. Not worth the extra money in my opinion.
Some Facebook (FB -1.7%) news: 1) Facebook says it will start charging businesses for its Offers product, which allows businesses to publish promotions in their fans' news feeds, while expanding its availability to include online-only businesses. Offers is a form of indirect competition for Groupon (GRPN). 2) Facebook has hired Netflix (NFLX) engineering VP John Ciancutti to be its Director of Engineering. Ciancutti's hiring follows a string of executive departures. [View news story]
S&P futures +0.25%, giving up some premarket gains following the retail sales and CPI reports. Higher prices at the pump (absent wage growth) just suck consumer dollars from spending elsewhere. Backing out gasoline and autos, retail sales rose just 0.1%. (full report, .pdf) [View news story]
It makes sense retail sales won't have sustainable growth when there are few jobs created and income growth is minimal. Bernanke did not help the inflationary cause yesterday with his announcement. He is blind to the fact that additional QE is not the answer.
Gundlach on the ECB's OMT: "If this circular financing scheme works, we've just solved thousands of years of economic problems," he says, expecting the world hasn't seen the end of EU debt issues and higher peripheral bond yields. [View news story]
Are shares of General Motors (GM -0.5%) suffering from the election-year blues? Derisively called Government Motors at will, the automaker increasingly catches flak for seemingly-innuocous moves in key election states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. GM maintains its decisions aren't influenced by the government and that it sells cars to Republicans, Democrats, and everybody in between - but the conspiracy theory debate rages on. For investors, the issue is at the very least an irritation, and at most another headwind to contend with. [View news story]
Draghi: Rumors of the demise of the euro are unacceptable, high government bond yields are unacceptable. ... the euro is irreversible. [View news story]
Monthly non-farm jobs report is a much better indicator of economic strength than weekly jobless claims. What matters is income growth and expansion of the workforce. Unfortunately the "recovery" is not accelerating at a faster pace.
If you think Jamie Dimon (JPM) can't end up like Barclays' Bob Diamond, think again, says Jonathan Weil. The fact that JPMorgan only decided on Thursday to restate Q1 results shows that Dimon still hadn't grasped how internal controls are failing him and the company. [View news story]
I partly agree with you TomasViewPoint. However, comparing a loss at JPM vs. the Federal Government of $5.8 billion (and counting) is not even close to an apples to apples comparison. JPM can't print money. If they could, I'd buy the stock :) . Plus, the Federal Government can run a budget deficit every year for an extended period of time (like we're currently doing) and still operate. A company can't (insolvency), unless it consistently receives a source of cash to cover cash losses and working capital needs. The big picture issue here is systematic risk and whether or not JPM has its operations under control. And yes, the Federal Government wastes taxpayers money everyday. Can't argue with you there! Thanks for your post. Have a good day.
Weakness in Spanish and Italian bond markets turns into a rout, Spain's 10-year note now +23 bps to 6.45%, Italy's 10-year +24 bps to 6.01%. Madrid +1.1% after being 4.5% higher earlier. Milan -0.6%. S&P futures at session lows, +0.3%. [View news story]
@ Terry330: You should look at all the indicators to come up with an overall assessment of the economy. And the President doesn't deserve most of the credit given to how the economy performs, whether it is good or bad. You must be on Obama's re-election team or he has you brainwashed.
Cleveland Fed President (and FOMC voter) Sandra Pianalto is seeing more evidence the economy is in a self-sustaining recovery, but she is not at the point of even thinking about withdrawing extraordinary monetary stimulus as it could be another 4 or 5 years before employment reaches what she considers to be the "maximum" level. [View news story]
The economy is so strong and self-sustaining that we need another 4-5 years of maintaining the ridiculous amount of monetary stimulus? Gotcha. Talk about an ignorant "smart" person. Hyperinflation will have engulfed the world by then; but who cares, right?
More on the fiscal cliff talks: The President's opening bid - delivered this afternoon by Tim Geithner - calls for a $1.6T tax increase, a $50B economic-stimulus program, and delivering to the WH the power to raise the federal debt limit without congressional approval. It's a "step backward," says Mitch McConnell. It sounds more like what it's described as: An opening bid. [View news story]
Oct ADP Jobs Report: +158K vs. +155K consensus, 162K prior. [View news story]
The U.S. is heading towards fiscal disaster and no one in Washington is doing anything about it, warns a trio of experts. Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson - authors the Simpson-Bowles reform plan - along with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein are concerned that investors are putting way too much faith in Congress and the White House to work out a deal. Those people are just "whistling around the market" right now, and they're likely to get creamed, Simpson notes. "They really believe honestly that no Congress could be this stupid, and by God, they can.” [View news story]
IPhone 5 (AAPL) sales come in at "over 5M," well below expectations. (PR) AAPL -2.3% premarket. [View news story]
Some Facebook (FB -1.7%) news: 1) Facebook says it will start charging businesses for its Offers product, which allows businesses to publish promotions in their fans' news feeds, while expanding its availability to include online-only businesses. Offers is a form of indirect competition for Groupon (GRPN). 2) Facebook has hired Netflix (NFLX) engineering VP John Ciancutti to be its Director of Engineering. Ciancutti's hiring follows a string of executive departures. [View news story]
S&P futures +0.25%, giving up some premarket gains following the retail sales and CPI reports. Higher prices at the pump (absent wage growth) just suck consumer dollars from spending elsewhere. Backing out gasoline and autos, retail sales rose just 0.1%. (full report, .pdf) [View news story]
Gundlach on the ECB's OMT: "If this circular financing scheme works, we've just solved thousands of years of economic problems," he says, expecting the world hasn't seen the end of EU debt issues and higher peripheral bond yields. [View news story]
Are shares of General Motors (GM -0.5%) suffering from the election-year blues? Derisively called Government Motors at will, the automaker increasingly catches flak for seemingly-innuocous moves in key election states such as Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. GM maintains its decisions aren't influenced by the government and that it sells cars to Republicans, Democrats, and everybody in between - but the conspiracy theory debate rages on. For investors, the issue is at the very least an irritation, and at most another headwind to contend with. [View news story]
Draghi: Rumors of the demise of the euro are unacceptable, high government bond yields are unacceptable. ... the euro is irreversible. [View news story]
Initial Jobless Claims: 353K vs. 380K consensus (prior week revised to 388K from 386K). [View news story]
If you think Jamie Dimon (JPM) can't end up like Barclays' Bob Diamond, think again, says Jonathan Weil. The fact that JPMorgan only decided on Thursday to restate Q1 results shows that Dimon still hadn't grasped how internal controls are failing him and the company. [View news story]
Weakness in Spanish and Italian bond markets turns into a rout, Spain's 10-year note now +23 bps to 6.45%, Italy's 10-year +24 bps to 6.01%. Madrid +1.1% after being 4.5% higher earlier. Milan -0.6%. S&P futures at session lows, +0.3%. [View news story]
May Nonfarm Payrolls: +69K vs. consensus of +150K, prior 79K (revised). Unemployment 8.2% vs 8.1% expected, 8.1% previous. [View news story]
http://on.wsj.com/LQvw9a
May. Reuters/UofM Consumer Sentiment: 79.3 vs. 77.8 expected and 77.8 prior. [View news story]
Cleveland Fed President (and FOMC voter) Sandra Pianalto is seeing more evidence the economy is in a self-sustaining recovery, but she is not at the point of even thinking about withdrawing extraordinary monetary stimulus as it could be another 4 or 5 years before employment reaches what she considers to be the "maximum" level. [View news story]