What Slowdown?

Markets leaped forward after a few tepid days. Lehman reported great earnings. Oil prices dipped, and consensus from the Fed was... no recession for 2007. It was like Christmas for Wall Street with these three gifts under the tree. Stocks added close to 1%, as the investment elves danced around in glee. But don't expect '07 to be a repeat of '06. It may not be a slowdown, but it's slow going from here on out. Dow +99.26 NASDAQ +21.44 S&P 500 +12.28

Ho Hum and Ho Ho Ho

Markets yawned today, ending with tiny upticks. The only major business news had to do with wayward execs. Skilling, of Enron fame, has been denied further bail and will have to report for his sentence. Scrushy, of HealthSouth fame, won't get a new trial. I guess they were naughty, not nice! I'm in the throes of gift buying for tweens and teens. I'm too old for this! I don't know what's cool and what's not. I'm scanning the site, gifts.com, for help. You put in the age range and the personality and look for their picks. At my age, I'm out of the loop! Dow +1.92 NASDAQ +0.81 S&P 500 +1.65

Steady as she goes

The Fed left rates alone today. Sometimes, no news is good news. Markets actually dipped on this announcement. For large-caps, it was barely a blip, while techs took about a 1/2% hit. While Mr. Bernanke keeps talking about inflation, markets keep hoping for an interest rate decline. The yield curve has been inverted for a long time, and it will take changes on the short end (probably) to bring it back in line. Dow -12.90 NASDAQ -11.26 S&P 500 -1.48

Monday uptick

Markets saw a small uptick. Tomorrow is the Federal Reserve meeting, but don't expect any major announcements. It will probably be status quo, and markets seem to be reflecting that mood. The closer we get to the holidays, the lower the volumes should be. Most year-end selling has taken place, although some investors will wait till the bitter end. While realtors are optimistic about 2007 sales, home sales will still be "iffy" until inventories settle down and the direction of interest rates are determined. Dow +20.99 NASDAQ +5.50 S&P 500 +3.20

A Two-Fer

The jobs report came out today, and it was good. The economy is still in fairly high gear, in terms of job creation. That's good news for further growth. Also, the report on wages came out, and it was not good news for workers. Wages have not grown very much, but that is a sign to Wall Street that labor prices may remain in check. Another bit of good news for stocks. The response to the reports was mixed. NASDAQ added almost 1/2%, while large-caps yawned. Dow +29.08 NASDAQ +9.67 S&P 500 +2.55