Posts Tagged ‘business activity’

(Michael Schwartz) - Let’s recap some of the good news last week: The Commerce Department said the economy grew in the fourth quarter at its fastest pace in more than six years; The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago said its index of Midwest business activity rose more than expected in January; Consumer sentiment in January as measured by The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers hit its highest level in two years; and Of the 220 companies in the S&P 500 index that have reported fourth quarter earnings, 78% of them exceeded analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters. In a typical quarter, only 61% of companies beat Wall Street targets. Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? So, how does the stock market respond?

Read the rest of this entry »

(Lee Siler) - Stocks traded lower on the day, but the damage could've been much worse. Investors were concerned about the lack of interest in the U.S. Treasury auction. The government's ability to sell Treasury's is paramount to fund our national spending. These auctions have put pressure on the bonds and hence, have seen yields soar over the past month.

Read the rest of this entry »