Market Montage
Stock Market, Economics, Equity Analysis
Mar09
While we generally focus on public companies here, every so often it's good to delve into the private corporation side of things and see how the other 80% live. I've seen Sara Blakely on TV quite a bit the past 3-4 years, and remember her on the Fox reality TV show with Richard Branson cited in the article below, but had no idea her company Spanx was a success story to this level of degree. Forbes has a fantastic cover story on the youngest female billionaire* in the country. Quite an inspiring story when you consider she started out with $5000 and an idea. Another takeaway – vanity sells! …
Mar09
An interesting name in the retail space that seems relatively under the radar is Ulta Salon, Cosmetics & Fragrance (ULTA). This company has done to 'beauty' products what a Lowe's or Home Depot for example have done in the do it yourself/hardware space – essentially a 'superstore' approach to the 'beauty' category. …
Mar09
Being the weak sister of the market the past 6 weeks I am watching the Russell 2000 a bit more than the S&P 500 right now. It broke the 50 day moving average during Tuesday's slash and burn but has staged a dramatic bounce since. Most of February it sat in the 810-830 range while the larger cap indexes advanced, and today's move has it regaining the lower end of that range. We'll see if it can keep that level on a closing basis but once again you have to applaud the move from oversold levels. …
Mar09
February's job growth numbers came in more or less in line with expectations at 227,000 and an 8.3% rate. Private sector gains of 233,000 vs a 6,000 loss in government. January was revised up nicely to 284,000 vs 243,000. Full report here.
Average hourly earnings +0.1%, a bit light versus expectations of 0.2% – but one could say that is good news for those who want more monetary easing. This figure is up 1.9% year over year so no cost push inflation coming from this avenue which would be one thing the Fed might actually consider if it ramped up.
Average workweek unchanged at 34.5 hours.
U-6 (marginally attached + unemployed) down to 14.9% …
Mar08
The monthly consumer credit data is always an interesting data point. Both bulls and bears could look at the same data point and come to completely different conclusions. Yesterday's report saw a massive increase in consumer credit, far in advance of expectations. Those on the bull side of the economy will (and did) say that consumers are feeling more comfortable with the economy, hence are apt to access their credit lines. Those on the bear side will (and did) say that consumers are in relative desperation mode, tapping credit as their wages are not keeping up with expenses. No one ever knows the exact truth, and I'm sure in a country of hundreds of millions of consumers, some people fall into both bucket.
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