Now the summer days are dwindling down to a precious few. This morning, it is overcast and chilly here in central France. The leaves on the aspen and linden trees have turned yellow already; whenever the wind blows, they flutter to the ground as if they were trying to get away from something.
The global markets are beginning to diverge. As the economy rebounds, the winners are separating from the losers. So far, Gravity (NASDAQ:GRVY) appears to be on the winning team.
Oil Rises on China Demand, Slowing U.S. Recession; Homebuilder Shares Surge After Order Increase; Natural Gas ETF to Suspend New Share Offers; Microsoft to Bring Office to Nokia Smartphones; J.D. Power: Auto Sales to Surge Next Year; WTO: China Violated Trade Rules on Books and Movies; Despite Shrinking Sales, Macy’s Beats the Street
Currencies rally… Eurozone growth unexpectedly stronger! FOMC extends QE… Norges is the first!
And Now… Today’s Pfennig!
Since the stock market bottomed out in March, the Nasdaq 100 index has led the way forward, with a 55% rally, with the Dow and S&P 500 not far behind.
So where are we now in the 19th month of the recession/depression? Perhaps not where we expected we’d be. The Dow finished its best gain for July since 1989. The index was up 8.6%. The S&P 500 also had a good month. It finished up 7.4%.
While the many of the world’s economies continue to look for signs of growth, the U.S. economy took a big step in the right the direction in the second quarter.
The stock market is about to finish the best July since 1989. The S&P 500 is up over 8% this month, its best month since April and best July in 20 years. After yesterday’s 1% rally, the index is up to 987. Baring catastrophe today, the S&P will register its fifth consecutive monthly gain.
All Three Markets Rise on Earnings Beats; Government Now Citi’s Biggest Shareholder; Jobless Claims Up but Subsiding; Crude Surges More Than 5%; Motorola Surprises; Recession Takes a Toll on House of Mouse; Ballmer Defends Yahoo Partnership; Southwest Makes Bid for Frontier
Where are we now? It’s a question we’ve been grappling with here at Notes since the bizarre events of March 9, when equities took off on a wild run. They haven’t stopped since.
