That Was The Week That Was-2nd Week February

 

 

Something that didn’t happen last week which we’re happy about but some are not….

 According to The Daily Beast this guy   was making noises about concessions for raising the debt limit (2/10).  If this comes down to another government shutdown it’ll be the third in 3 years, with the first in 2011. According to The Peterson Institute for International Economics- fiscal uncertainty including the threat of debt default has increase unemployment by 1/2 of 1 percent, or reduced the number of jobs by 750,000. On Tuesday the House voted to extend debt limits and all the hoopla was for naught as Boehner quietly marshaled the troops to go along. Talk radio right wing Savage called  Boehner a drug addict and alcoholic, a platitude he usually reserves for NBC reporters and executives on 2/12 show, for going along with the Dems. On Wednesday the Senate quickly passed the increase and no ominous dark clouds were seen hovering over the Capital.

Markets Extended Their Gains Monday. It wasn’t that much of a rally but it was in the plus column and a win is a win is a win. Robert C. Doll, CFA, Nuveen Asset Management, Inc.  in his newsletter of 2/10 reminded readers and investors that we should anticipate fluctuations in 2014 but remain focused on fundamentals. Until emerging market turmoil settles and weather patterns change, uncertainty will likely cause volatility in both directions. 

New Movie Monuments Men Has as It’s Backdrop a Real Castle where the Nazi’s hid captured loot. The setting is the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle. I thought it looked familiar. But, I don’t see the mono-rail.

The Markets Love Janet Yellen! Okay, maybe not forever but for a day last Tuesday she was everyone’s favorite as she said all the right things like keeping interest rates low for a very long time and testifying about the Fed’s easy money programs. Everybody agrees she’s a great choice for Fed Chief and she handled herself well responding in her testimony to a round of Congressional questions what the Fed would do and when. The DJIA jumped to close up 200 points on the continued policies of an accommodative Federal Reserve. 2/12 Art Cashin said on CNBC that Ms Yellen said all the right things and didn’t hurt the market.

I Had Family Business Wednesday That Kept Me Away From the Computer but Linked in ( get it? Linked…In?)With My Smart Phone. Didn’t miss much as the  markets pulled back basically on ‘nothing’, as Ben Levisohn of Barrons.com wrote. It was a Seinfeld kind of day but Bloomberg blamed it on Proctor and Gamble, while Well’s Capital James Paulson was quoted as saying, ‘ Monetary policy remains more accommodative today than most appreciate.’ Which is sweet of you to say, John. Then Paulson explains that good news may eventually become bad news for stocks, only after, possibly reaching 2000 in 2014 on the S&P. This bad news could result in a correction bringing the S&P back to close where it started in 2014. That sounds like a problem for 2015…one thing at a time, okay?

So early in this year we’re seeing volatility not seen much in 2013. Chartist John Nyardi in 2/12 MarketWatch examined the S&P 500 chart and wrote that resistance is at the 1820-1830 level. If the index breaks out from there it’s ‘green flags’, saith Nyardi. If not he predicts ‘darker days ahead.’ Zacks first told us to watch for 1800…things change awfully fast. Yes, we blew through those numbers last week, my friends.

News from WSJ, Barrons.com and MarketWatch.com 2/14: Both French and German economies gathered steam in the fourth quarter, an indication of healing for the euro-zone. Adding world funds to our mix starting in the fourth quarter 2013. Comcast and Time Warner news that they were bundling into one huge gigantic money sucking organization that will, in all likelihood, become world’s biggest pain in the you-know-what consumer frustrating service company of all time. Markets edged up Thursday…Magic S&P number ready to be revised upward again by pundits as it closed a smidge under 1830. Remember earlier in the week this was the number experts said had to be there if the markets were to move forward.  Mitch Tuchman in MarketWatch.com asked if you bought the news or listened to the experts. Seems every financial critic had a voice in the coming doom this last bit except the Warren Buffett. If you bought the frightening news you were indeed doomed.

The Best Process is to stay the course or add to your holdings those quality stocks that become attractive. Buffett urged investors to not try to time the markets but hold what they had and ignore all outside noises. I reported that in our client breakfast meeting. Clients who did that were glad they did.

Finally- Recession? We Ain’t Got No Stinking  Recession! Oh, the wailing and Biblical gnashing of teeth from the doomsters for the previous few weeks as the end of the economic world was in sight as the markets fell in January and continued their slide right up to …well, last week! Except for the small cap sector we’re not only where we were in January many of the indices are in positive territory for 2014! Last week was the best week of the year. Even utilities were up 3.3%, health care 3.28%, materials 3.02% while financials lagged at a measly 1.58% (info from WSJ 2/15). Like a magic show the folks that bring gloom and end of the economic world news ran back into their rabbit holes. ‘There was no panic in January,’ reported Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading. Friday notched another triple digit day and like that (snap!) markets bounced to a healthy positive and the clouds parted, the sun shined and birds sang.

Information gathered from sources considered reliable and included WSJ, Barrons, MarketWatch, Bloomberg, CNBC and others.

QUESTIONS CALL PAUL @ 586 295 0430 or write him at pstanley@westminsterfinancial.com. Share this blog with someone who cares about their money.

SECURITIES OFFERED THROUGH WESTMINSTER FINANCIAL SECURITIES, INC. MEMBER FINRA/SIPC