Global Macro Perspectives
(For The Week Ending August 27, 2010) U.S. railroads originated 302,358 carloads, up 8.2% compared with the same week in 2009, but down 8.1% compared with 5-year average. Week over week change was +1.2%. Chart 1. Association of American Railroads U.S. Freight Carloads Total
Important U.S. earnings this week: Monday: Urstadt Biddle Properties (UBA) Tuesday: Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH), Casey’s General Stores (CASY), NCI Building Systems (NCS) Wednesday: The Men’s Wearhouse (MW), Shuffle Master (SHFL), Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack (PBY), CIENA (CIEN), United Natural Foods (UNFI), Hi Tech Pharmacal (HITK), Smithfield Foods (SFD), AeroVironment (AVAV) Thursday: National […]
Baltic dry index rose 6.0% last week; Capesize Index was up 14.1%; Panamax Index rose 4.8%; Supramax and Handysize Indexes lost 5.5% and 1.2% respectively. China steel prices ticking up, bringing some demand to the shipping markets. Chart 1. Baltic Dry Indexes Relative Performance Chart 2. Baltic Dry Index Chart 3. Baltic Dry Index Components […]
I have been thinking for a while on starting my book review series and here comes the first one. I am going to try to point to books which I find most useful in improving my understanding of the markets and most interesting and fun to read. My first review will be a short one and it […]
Baltic Dirty Tanker Index fell 3.0%; Baltic Clean Tanker Index fell 2.2%. Supply is overwhelming demand; rates are approximately at ship operating costs; vessel owners are slowing down vessel speed to reduce supply. Chart 1. Baltic Tanker Indexes Relative Performance Chart 2. Baltic Tanker Indexes
(For August 2010) ISM Non- Manufacturing Index was reported at 51.5 vs. 53.0 consensus and 54.3 reading in July. Chart 1. ISM Non- Manufacturing Index
(For The Week Ending August 27, 2010) ECRI Weekly Leading Index for week ending August 27 was reported down 10.1%. Prior reading was at -9.9%. Again in the recession territory. Chart 1. ECRI Weekly Leading Index
Nonfarm payrolls fell 54.000 in August. The consensus was at -105.000, revised reading for June was a decrease of 54.000. The unemployment was reported at 9.6% vs prior reading of 9.5% and consensus of 9.6%. Average weekly hours worked for private employees rose 0.3% to 34.2. Positive surprise. Chart 1. Nonfarm Payrolls & Unemployment Rate […]
Equities Economic data released in recent month or so is on a absolute and relative basis weak. The difference from July is that the consensus has moved downwards, so the markets focuses on comparing actual data with consensus and disregarding absolute levels. But we are here to earn some money, not waste our time on […]
(For The Week Ending August 27, 2010) Working gas in storage rose 54 Bcf from previous week. Consensus was at 55 Bcf. Stockpiling will be higher in the following weeks (mild temperatures) so the supply/demand balance will be better then last year, but altogether bad. This points that we have only technical factors on our side, […]
(For July 2010) Pending home sales index rose 5.2% in July vs. revised fall of 2.8% in June. Chart 1. Pending Home Sales Index
(For July 2010) U.S. factory orders rose 0.1% in July. The consensus was at 0.3%, prior reading was at -1.2%. Factory shipments rose 1.1%, June reading was at -0.5%. Chart 1. U.S. Manufacturers New Orders & Shipments
(For August 2010) Monster Employment Index fell to 136 in August; July reading was at 138. Charts 1. Monster Employment Index
(For July 2010) I forgot to post this yesterday. U.S. construction spending fell 1.0% MoM in July vs. -0.6% consensus and revised 0.8% fall in June. On year level we are at -10.7%. Lowest level in 10 years. Chart 1. U.S. Construction Spending
(For The Week Ending August 27, 2010) Initial jobless claims were reported at 472.000. The consensus was at 475.000, last week revised (up 3.000) reading was at 478.000. Chart 1. U.S. Initial Jobless Claims