The dollar sold off through most of the day on Tuesday, but seems to be stabilizing this morning. The selloff began early yesterday morning with the release of US housing data and the industrial production numbers. Housing starts, which were expected to show a small increase, were actually down 10.6% MOM. And the future isn’t so bright either, as building permits also fell 4% MOM in April. The previous month’s numbers for housing starts were revised up slightly, but this revision was offset by March’s permit number, which was revised down. As I wrote yesterday, the US housing market continues to be a drag on the economic recovery, and a rebound isn’t in sight.
[Read more...]New Home Sales Plunge
March 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
What a difference a day makes. It was a very windy day; the kind that makes the whole building shake with each gust of wind. So that only means one thing… The nice springtime weather that we’ve seen recently will be bowing down to a return of winter weather. We saw this kind of action in the market yesterday, as the euro (EUR) – and most of the currencies, for that matter – stepped aside for the dollar as the European debt problems resurfaced again. More on that in a bit, but it was mostly a flight to safety type of day.
[Read more...]It’s All About Housing
March 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As I was sitting here looking at the calendar, I noticed that next week brings us to the end of March…and then it dawned on me that we’re already staring at the end of the first quarter. Simply amazing, where does the time go? It was a fairly uneventful day as there wasn’t much in the way of data to interpret or any market moving events, so most assets remained in a relatively tight range. I guess I should quit stalling and jump right in.
[Read more...]New Home Sales Plunge!
August 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Well… The chill in the air isn't confined to the cold front that moved through the Midwest this week… The cold front's chilly air has moved over the economic data here in the US and to a lesser extent, the dollar.
The dollar is weaker this morning versus the usual suspects, led by the euro (EUR), which has climbed and clawed its way back to above 1.27; and the commodity currencies look a bit healthier this morning, too. It's all about the awful housing data that had printed two consecutive days this week. I'll get to that in a minute, but first some observations from the Chuck flight deck…
[Read more...]
Economic Growth Still a Long Way Off
On Wednesday, the US stock market took its biggest drop of the year. Thursday, the Dow shed another 41 points.
Treasury yields – on 10-year notes – fell below 3%.
US financial stocks took their worst beating in 10 months.
Even gold gave up ground yesterday, with a $10 drop.
[Read more...]