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There was sobering article on the front page of the WSJ (weekend edition) titled Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short. The key statistic was that the median household headed by a person between the ages of 60 and 62…
Given signs of inflation QE ends in June taking wind out of the S&P. The fiscal year for S&L govts starts in July and big tax hikes and spending cuts are due. State restraint is already visible in reduced employment.…
The Good: Fed lifted its GDP forecast for ’11 to a 3.4% to 3.9% band from 3.0%-3.4% based on minutes from Jan meeting. The Bad: Ongoing frustration with slow progress in the labor market compelled the Fed to say that…
The US has had two huge bull markets since the end of WWII; ’46-’66 and ’82-’00. Each time there was a positive shock to the economy. The 1st bull market resulted from baby boomers and the creation of the Interstate…
Consumer sentiment came in better than expected in Feb at 75.1 but the expectations component which leads spending growth fell to 67.6 from 69.3 in Jan and all the gains in consumer confidence were in the high income segment; soaring…
The fall in house prices and home equity have robbed fledging entreprenneurs of one of the most popular sources of funding; equity in their homes! This loss means fewer basement and garage start-ups in general and many fewer in the…
I am quite bullish on the multi-family area of the market where demand is strong and strengthening and vacancy rates are declining. The apartment space looks good but as the homeownership rate continues to fall, the improvement in MF is…
New Zealand’s finance minister is suggesting his country could be on the precipice of a recession later this year & a flood-induced Q1 contraction in Australia seems assured. Inflationary pressures are building in emerging markets. Thus the need for interest…
S&P 500 sales did quite well in Q4 — up 7.7% and ahead of estimates by a country mile. But, from what I see most growth in sales is coming from outside the USA! Here, revenues are growing at barely…
The AA+/AAA 20-year muni bonds are trading above a 5% yield. That means more than 7% on a tax equivalent basis for top US earners!!!! There have been a grand total of 54 bond defaults in the past 4 decades…