No more Hollywood in Michigan? According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek the new Gov Rick Snyder may want to curb the state’s tax incentives to the film industry. Out of the 355 full time jobs created as a result of the aggressive tax cutting program to lure the industry here it cost the state about $193,000 for each employee. (Ready when you are, CB.)
- High unemployment may be with us for a good long while. In Global Economics report in last week’s Bloomberg BusinessWeek many companies are doing better with less. Campbell Soup huddles up management and workers, before their shift, in order to find ways to save the company money. Over 8.5 million jobs have been slashed during the recession but most S&P 500 companies are doing just fine. The reason is that Campbell's, UPS, DuPont and others are asking current employees to help them save money using existing technology and workers.
- Markets fell last Monday with worries surrounding the Irish debt even though the EU came up with $112 billion. Investors look to Italy, Spain and Portugal as next in line for aid.
T Boone Pickens, billionaire oilman, was the first to predict oil would hit $100 before it would ever again see $40 petitioned the US to use natural gas in all their vehicles instead of oil and was given the bum’s rush for the idea by Washington. Now, in China, Boone may find a more receptive audience as the country ramps up to eventually gobbling 45 million barrels a day, more than half of the current global supply. ( Can ya’ll say ‘Howdy’ in Mandarin?)
- Tuesday saw markets give up more as metals shined and dollar strengthened against the poor euro. More stress tests for overseas banks in 2011.
- Investors are still fearful of whether certain European governments can rebuild or will they default on their obligations. This fear carried over to our domestic markets as bond markets across the most vulnerable nations in Europe fell last Tuesday.
- The domestic S&P 500 index stayed respectfully above its key level of support last Monday and Tuesday illustrating that there were enough buyers to buoy the markets from a major selloff.
- Wednesday everyone was a winner! Almost every stock in the S&P 500 index was up for the day and bullishness was …like good cheer and Salvation Army bell ringers -everywhere. Dow was up almost 250 points even as the U.S agreed to put ‘a little something extra’ into the EU collection plate aka International Monetary Fund to help with the broader package to stabilize certain countries. The U.S. added 93,000 private sector jobs in November and spending on construction projects unexpectedly rose by 0.7%. Both GM and Ford rose as U.S. auto sales grew by 11% over November 2009. It was a good day.
- From the country that brought the world Vasco da Gama and Magellan; Portugal now declared as a lousy credit risk by Egan-Jones.
- The Fed Beige Book, a survey of the 12 districts that make up the Federal Reserve, shows the economy IMPROVING in service, tourism and manufacturing especially autos. Here! Here!
- Rangel censure. When will folks learn it’s never the crime but always the cover-up that bites them. Anyone remember Tricky…ah, you know who.
- Stocks up- on momentum Thursday. As the cats would say it was solid, baby, really solid.
- A land of 2 Euros? Don’t bet on having the euro split with one supported by the conservative Germans and the other sponsored by…well see the map above. The 2 euro argument would be too costly to implement. In the end, according to Jessica Hoversen, foreign-exchange and fixed income analyst at MF Global in Chicago, Germany will be the one country to lead and decide the euro’s fate.
- What ETF are investment representatives researching more than any other? It’s the TIPs ETF, as brokers and customers are thinking inflation and not deflation going forward.
- Nothing like your crackpot neighbor lobbing a few missiles into your backyard to get you back to the bargaining table. A few weeks back South Korea gave our president the gate. He was supposed to sign a huge trade agreement but the S. Koreans turned nasty. A few days later their nutty northern neighbor decides to use one of the South Korean islands for artillery target practice and suddenly everything is hunky-dory with the good old U.S. of A. The president sends one of our flat-tops to cruise the peninsula. The end result no more shelling and the South is or will sign a trading deal worth about $11 billion for the U.S.A. (It’s good to be King. And, have real big boats!)
- Gossip gasp-Carnie Wilson, zaftig songstress with Wilson Phillips, fired from Fresh Diet ad gig for gaining weight while promoting her ‘cheesecakes’ instead of losing pounds per sponsors contract. Gotta be a lesson there somewhere, anyone?
- Friday last the markets were morose on the incomprehensible news that less than expected jobs were created in the month of November. Investors sucked their thumbs for most of the session until someone recognized that the fundamentals were still good, the job numbers didn’t jibe with other Beige book news and the US just inked a deal with the Koreans which could be as big a Trade deal as NAFTA. All markets up for the day and week.
- Here we go again! Deficit Plan fails to win panel support. When will the idiots in Washington understand we want them to compromise and not stand on their hind legs and pound their chests?
- Finally, for some early Holiday cheer. Retired research director at Value Line Sam Eisenstadt predicts double digit returns in 2011. Eisenstadt spent 63 years at Value Line and is considered one of the most eminent market forecaster.
Questions call Paul @ 877 783 7080 or write him at pstanley@westminsterfinancial.com. Share this blog with someone who cares about their money.
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