Yardeni QuickTakes (Page 43)

US Economy Still Flying High

Aug 29, 2024 3 min read paid

Today was a Roaring 2020s kind of day. The DJIA jumped to yet another record high. Stock prices rose even as Nvidia dipped after beating quarterly earnings expectations (which were widely expected to beat expectations). Once again: No recession in today's economic indicators. For the past couple of years, many economists (and Jamie Dimon) have predicted that the consumer would soon be "tapped out" after exhausting

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Are Home Prices Just Too D@mn!#$ High?

Aug 28, 2024 2 min read paid

We were surprised to see the sharp drop in the percentage of survey respondents with plans to buy any home within the next six months in August's consumer confidence survey released on Tuesday (chart). After all, the 30-year mortgage rate declined from 7.79% at the end of October 2023 to 6.46% currently (chart). That's still relatively high, especially since the spread between this yield

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Dr Ed's Video Webcast 8/28/24

Aug 28, 2024 1 min read paid

It was an unambiguously dovish Fed Chair Powell who described the Fed’s intentions for US monetary policy at the Jackson Hole gathering of global central bankers on Friday. In our opinion, he was too dovish for this point in the economic cycle. After all, successful execution of the Fed’s dual mandate basically has been achieved: Inflation is headed on autopilot down to the 2.0% target (thanks to

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Less Help Wanted: Sign of Trouble for Labor Market?

Aug 27, 2024 3 min read paid

Nvidia is set to report quarterly results tomorrow. We bet that the company won't disappoint unless it announces that its highly anticipated Blackwell chip isn't quite ready for primetime. A CNBC headline trumpeted today that Nvidia is the world's "most important stock." It certainly has had an amazing run as its revenues have soared and so has its forward profit margin, currently

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Geopolitical Risks Abound

Aug 26, 2024 3 min read

The world is getting more dangerous. That doesn't seem to be having any impact on the US stock market. The S&P 500 is less than 1% below its July 16 record high, while the equal-weighted version of the index is at a record high (chart). The biggest risk to the bull market in stocks is a recession, according to most strategists. We don't share

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

The Economic Week Ahead: August 26-30

Aug 25, 2024 3 min read

This week will include the first clues on the economy's performance in August. We're expecting to see confirmation of ongoing labor market strength in the month's consumer confidence survey (Tue) and initial unemployment claims (Thu). Some of August's improvement should be a bounce back from July's weather-depressed economic activity, which may be reflected in July's personal income release

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Market Call: Did Powell Just Pour Gasoline On Stock Market's Fire?

Aug 25, 2024 3 min read paid

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday was unambiguously dovish, as we observed in that day's QT. It was also unambiguously bullish for the stock market because it confirmed widespread expectations that September's cut in the federal funds rate is in the bag and will be followed by several more cuts. However, the stock market may have discounted most of these

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

DEEP DIVE: Artificial Intelligence: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Aug 24, 2024 5 min read paid

Artificial Intelligence: Good vs Evil. There’s a lot of controversy over AI. The passion of those for and against its propagation is almost religious in nature, with zealots and heretics. The zealots believe that AI is a revolutionary technological innovation that will quickly transform our lives for the better, a good development for humanity. A few of these believers do concede that it has the potential to be evil,

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Powell Confirms Fed's Pivot To Rate Cuts. Doesn't Push Back Against Market Expectations.

Aug 23, 2024 3 min read paid

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was dovish in his Jackson Hole speech today. He didn't hedge. He didn't push back against market expectations of several rate cuts ahead as we anticipated he might. He wasn't more dovish than the market, but he didn't utter any hawkish views whatsoever to alter the market's dovish expectations for several rate cuts (chart). Powell unambiguously

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

US Economy Still On Bullish Track

Aug 22, 2024 3 min read

Stock traders took some profits today. They were probably nervous that Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be less dovish tomorrow than the markets are about the outlook for rate cuts beyond 25bps in September. We've been less dovish than the markets since mid-June because we've been more bullish on the economy and the labor market than the consensus. Today's economic releases showed the US

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Are Grocery Stores Price Gouging?

Aug 21, 2024 3 min read paid

Today, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that there's no room for price gouging in a super competitive business like retail. He was responding to accusations by Vice President Kamala Harris that grocers are inflating their prices. As the Democratic candidate for President, she proposed the first ever ban on "corporate price-gouging" in the food and grocery industry. She also pledged last Friday to come after "

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Dr Ed's Video Webcast 8/21/24

Aug 21, 2024 1 min read paid

Last week saw unfounded US recession fears and global financial market jitters go poof as quickly as they arrived. Dr. Ed examines what the markets were overreacting to when they beat a hasty retreat and the subsequent developments that set investors straight. … Weather was the reason for much of the weakness in July’s economic indicators, suggesting that August’s data may surprise on the upside and that Fed officials

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

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