(Lee Siler) - For the week, stocks moved slightly higher despite the dollar showing some strength. Last week, we saw a paradigm change as the weak dollar trade subsided and was now trading in concert with stocks. It had been a long time since we've seen stocks and the dollar trade in the same direction. Well Friday's surprising employment data got the dollar moving. The fact that unemployment dropped to 10% from 10.2% was a huge surprise. Wall Street applauded the news. However, I'm not sure that this is the start of a trend. I still think unemployment is a major issue and will likely jump back up to over 10.2% over the next few months.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Lee Siler) - News that government owned Dubai World is in a financial crisis rocked stock markets worldwide. While our markets dropped more than 1.5% on a holiday shortened trading day, markets abroad took the bigger hit. After the dust settled, it appears that the U.S. has limited exposure in Dubai. However, the news is not as good in Europe. The talk is that the United Kingdom has the biggest exposure to this troubled state. Although Dubai World is owned by the country of Dubai, it is not guaranteed by the government. This should not be a surprise. All of the debt accumulated by Dubai World was accumulated with the understanding that it was not backed by the government. The good news is that the oil rich country and neighbor of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, said it would make sure the banks are solvent and lend some financial assistance.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Lee Siler) - A significant drop in new housing starts has taken stock futures from a mildly higher opening to a slightly lower opening...Wall Street was expecting October new housing starts to improve by 1.7%, but instead saw a deep decline of 10.6%. The Commerce Department said that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of 529,000 units is the lowest since April and the percentage drop is the worst since January. Although single family home starts slowed by 6.8%, the biggest hit was from the multi-family starts which tumbled 34.6%.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Lee Siler) - Positive earnings news out of Wal-Mart is being over shadowed by surprisingly negative news in the over-all retail sector. The world's largest retailer reported flat earnings from the previous year, but beat analysts' expectations. Wal-Mart's quarterly profit came in at 88 cents a share versus the 85 cents Wall Street was expecting. Cost cutting measures helped the retail giant achieve higher profit margins as well. What's more, the company raised the lower end of their profit guidance. On the news, Wal-Mart is trading higher in the pre-market.

Read the rest of this entry »