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@theMarket: Election Unknowns Keep Markets on Edge
By Bill Schmick,
03:18PM / Friday, October 25, 2024
Markets vacillate between betting on a GOP sweep and a Democrat victory with little justification for either outcome. Don't get caught up in the frenzy.   The betting markets have Trump winning but they have been wrong in the past and it is easy to tip the odds one way or the other with a couple of big bets. The polls are no help either because the results are all within a margin of error that makes them useless.   Only 36 percent of the S&P 500 have reported third-quarter earnings. So far, 79 percent of companies have beat earnings by a median of 6 percent. Sales results have also been strong with 58 percent beating estimates. The corporate results have

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@theMarket: As Election Approaches, Markets' Volatility Should Increase
By Bill Schmick,
03:01PM / Friday, October 18, 2024
Investors are increasingly preoccupied with the general elections, which are less than three weeks away. That focus should increase as we go down to the wire, and as it does, so will volatility.     It is getting harder to ignore the election contest. The media, both mainstream and social, spews out a continuous stream of political news. I finally shut down my X account this week because of it. Although difficult, my attention remains focused on the market and not the election.   This week, third-quarter earnings have kicked off, and results have been strong thus far. Of the 58 companies reporting thus far, 76 percent have beat estimates. Banks have

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@theMarket: Stocks Make Record Highs Despite a Wall of Worry
By Bill Schmick,
03:31PM / Friday, October 11, 2024
Mixed inflation data, higher unemployment claims, steeper bond yields, the unresolved Israeli counterstrike against Iran, and jitters over the election kept the equity averages volatile throughout the week. Despite those worries, the S&P 500 Index and the Dow hit record highs.   A bullish stock market often climbs a wall of worry. This week certainly qualified. Investors had to contend with a continued rise in yields on the benchmark Ten-Year U.S. Treasury and poor results of a government auction for that bond. The yield this week hit a high of 4.09 percent and has gone straight up ever since the Fed's 50 basis point cut in the Fed funds rate last month. If the Fed

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@theMarket: A Week to Remember
By Bill Schmick,
03:02PM / Friday, October 04, 2024
It was a week to remember in financial markets. Hurricane Helene, the longshoreman strike, Iran's ballistic missile attack against Israel, American drones shot down by Houthi rebels, and a massive gain in U.S. jobs — welcome to October.   All the above happened in just the first week of the month. The stock market has hung in there through all of it. However, the events of the week have given heartburn to investors and traders alike.   The massive flooding and rising death toll in Florida and North Carolina were tragic but also negative for overall future growth and employment. The price tag is estimated to be above $34 billion. Insurance stocks did

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@theMarket: China Stimulus Boosts World Markets
By Bill Schmick,
11:32AM / Saturday, September 28, 2024
A week after the U.S. central bank's policy shift, Chinese authorities unleashed their monetary policy dragon. The move caught world financial markets by surprise and launched the Shanghai Composite index up more than 9 percent in three days.   The People's Bank of China (PBOC) launched its largest stimulus package since the pandemic. The PBOC cut interest rates, reduced the reserve requirement ratio, and introduced structural monetary policies to stabilize Chinese markets, which went straight down for months.    Wall Street analysts are overwhelmingly negative on the Chinese market. Investments in Chinese stocks by  Institutional investors

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