Believe you can and you’re halfway there. -Theodore RooseveltÂ
Poor Janet Yellen. The Fed head just cannot seem to get a break.
Lo and behold, just when you think the financial markets have pretty much accepted interest rates will be low for the next century, naturally, the July jobs report came in at a hot 255,000. The number was far in excess of the anticipated 180 thousand economists expected. This came after the Bank of England announced the first interest rate cut in seven years, down a quarter of a percent, which is the lowest recorded benchmark interest rate in that venerable institution’s 322 year history. Hmm, seems like the low interest rate thing has more than caught on, wouldn’t you say?
Nonetheless, Mrs. Yellen now seems to be facing the distinct prospect of more urgency to move in the direct opposite direction of most of her rate cutting brethren at the Bank of England, Bank of Japan, ECB, Swiss National Bank, and the Australian Central Bank. You see, a data dependent Yellen must acknowledge, at the very least, the economy ain’t so bad, and in fact, maybe, just maybe, might be just well enough to start the process of normalizing rates. Say it ain’t so, Joe, oops, Janet.Â
The market was full of earnings reports this week and came in all industries, shapes, sizes, and were stocked full of both upside surprises and destructive disappointments.
A few of note include Etsy, Fitbit, and MeetMe, all which were pleasantly good. Nice to see some youngsters feeling their oats. A few more mature entities like AIG, the Boyd Group, Activision Blizzard, Churchill Downs, and Jack and the Box were more of a mixed bag, hit or miss you might say.
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the tell-almost-all season is how companies, which might barely manage to miss the estimate, or even worse, indicate the business is just OK, or, heaven forbid, trending down, promptly see their stock get crushed. You miss a percent on the top line, the equity gets bombed by 20%. Not fun.
