FIRESIDE CHARTS
Private Payrolls Shock to the Upside, Unemployment Dips Back to Annual Low, and Strategists Measured on 2020
Happy Monday, Fireside Charts readers! We mentioned the “rosy” outlook of Friday’s jobs report last week, but let’s take a minute today to stop and smell those roses. Private payrolls came in at more than double the expected figure and unemployment’s revisiting its 2019 low—the third lowest since the 1940’s—and wage growth has topped the mortgage rate for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Jobs Reports, Service Sector Slowdown, and Are We in a Large-Cap Super-Cycle?
The Labor Department’s jobs report was released this morning and it certainly paints a rosier picture than ADP’s grim analysis from earlier this week (re: only 67,000 private sector jobs added in November—less than half of what was expected).
Manufacturing PMI Still Contracting, Corn Shipments Halved, and Non-OPEC Oil Supply Outpaces Demand
Did you spend big this holiday weekend? While consumer sentiment and spending are still strong—Adobe Analytics estimates that sales topped $29 billion between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday—strong consumer demand does not look to be trickling through to the manufacturing sector.
Financial Sector Breakout, Record Setting Trade Deficits, Underwhelming Regional Fed Reports
We’re back! We hope you all made it home safely from holiday travels and are not stuck in an airport or shoveling snow like a many of our colleagues. There’s a lot to turn our attention to this week including today’s testimony from the newly appointed ECB President, Christine Lagarde, in which she promised an “overarching review of ECB business ranging from how it defines its inflation objective to whether it includes a fight against climate change among its responsibilities.”
Trends in Stock Listings, Regional Fed Reports, and a Look at U.S. Energy Production
Happy Thanksgiving Eve! We know you’re anxious to get to your vacations, so we’ll keep it to bullet points today
Interest Rates, Credit Spread, and Millennium Nostalgia
Happy Thanksgiving week, Fireside Charts readers! The 10-year treasury yield hit a three-year low in early September (and has been lingering below 2% ever since) but a look back through 2012 has us wondering if it could be poised to rise.
Mini-Cycles, Manufacturing, and Mounting Debt
The U.S. Leading Economic Index dropped for the third straight month in October, driven largely by investor uncertainty around the trade war, but a long-term view makes us wonder: are occasional hits to economic sentiment—and the “mini-cycles” they spur—a key to understanding how the current expansion has become the longest on record?
‘De-Worsifying’ Equities, U.S. Dividends Fail to Measure Up, and Are Junk Bond ETFs Turning to Junk?
Diversification has long been touted as a cornerstone of successful long-term investing, but do you know just how in-sync U.S. and international equities have become in the past 20 years?
Empire State Manufacturing Disappoints, Easing Hits Decade High, and a Look at Government Spending
The Empire State Manufacturing index turned in a sluggish 2.9 print on Friday, falling short of expectations and marking six straight months of soft numbers from the oft-prognostic index. With so many regions (both domestic and global) slowing though, it’s worth noting that any reading above 0.0 indicates ongoing growth.
Small Caps Lag, Farm Debt Set to Reach Record High, Investment Indicators Down in Leading Economies
The S&P 500 has surged over 20% and set 16+ record closes this year, but small-cap stocks have failed to follow the same pattern, and appear to be bearing the brunt of rising political, trade, and economic uncertainty. Will they continue to linger under 1600.00?