A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Shanghai Composite down -6.7% today. No comment needed.
Archive for August, 2009
China Pause
Same as the day before, yesterday we saw mostly “better than expected” data from the US. Most notably new home sales were up 9.6% in July. Durable goods orders came 4.9% higher in July vs. 3% consensus and -2.5% the month before. Better than expected orders were mostly result of US government “cash for clunkers” program from which, by the way, mostly benefited Japanese auto makers. Durable goods ex transportation came at 0.8% vs. 0.9% consensus and 2.5% the month before.
Has S&P 500 Reached The Short Term Top?
Despite better than consensus data on US housing suggesting recovery in housing prices and better than consensus consumer confidence the market failed to rally.
The World Today
We have had some spectacular runs from the recent lows both in the equity arena and among commodities. As I am writing this introductory post markets are hitting new highs for the year. Common to these diverse markets is that we have seen little or no material improvement in underlying fundamentals only consolidation at initially depressed levels.