Search results matching tags 'US Economy' and 'Economic Data'

Weekly Monday Overview

RichardSchwartz — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:17:00 GMT

Richard Schwartz's

PRINCIPLES OF THE STOCK MARKET

A learning, teaching, always evolving stock market letter and advisory service

Eighteenth Consecutive Year of Publication; Letter #1; September 18^th, 1990

Post Office Box 1236 · New Paltz, New York 12561 - U.S. A. · (845) 255-6894

E-mail address: RichardStk@aol.com

Subscription · One-Year Morning E-Mail Delivery · $150.00

Monday, April 6^th, 2009: It’s Master’s week so I’m pumped up. It’s golf’s 1^st major of the year, tradition packed, for you non-golfers. Should be great with Tiger back, Phil Mickelson saying he’s playing the best golf of his life, Paddy Harrington going for his 3^rd major in a row and lots of up & comers. All I can say is wow! Even just watching this old southern flower nursery turned into a golf course in the spring, lavished with money for decades, may be worth the watching for any non-golfers out there. For me, it’s just heaven.

THE KEY QUESTION

Instead of discussing The Big Picture today, let’s focus on The Key Question. Since that’s what I keep pondering. Plus it has to be on every investor’s mind as well. “Could this rally be the start of a new bull market?” To intelligently answer -- as during every bear market rally -- necessitates rehashing all the available evidence. I can make a solid case for a cyclical bull market having just started and I can make an even more solid case that this is just a normal bounce in a Papa Bear market. Consider:

MINI BULL MARKET HAS STARTED

·        The economic stimulus is now starting to kick in which will stabilize and bounce the economy.

·        The monetary stimulus, lower interest rates, is also now kicking in and housing sales are increasing.

·        Inventories have been drawn down and need to be restocked which will pump up GDP growth near term.

·        The US and other governments have done everything possible to mitigate this downturn.

·        We now have more coordinated and get along global leadership than in many years.

·        The US economy has proven itself wonderfully resilient to shocks in recent decades.

·        Markets can counter-swing at any time for long periods, posting mini bull markets, versus primary trends.

·        Almost two years has passed since the beginning of the credit implosion back in July 2007.

·        Many independent market gurus think the March 2009 lows will last for a good while, months or longer.

·        The latest government bailout plan has more enthusiasts and support for it than previous plans.

·        Oil stopped falling back in December and is now on the rise possibility indicating growth rebounding.

·        We have recently had a number of better economic data reports from both retail and housing.

JUST A BEAR MARKET BOUNCE

·        The bear market hasn’t lasted long enough to discount all the problems that have come to light.

·        More problems, coming as bearish ripple effects and because of long lag times, are due to show up.

·        The bear market hasn’t fallen deeply enough to factor in the sudden massive shock to the global economy.

·        There hasn’t been enough overall selling or liquidation for a solid bottom. Stock and mutual fund liquidation haven’t reached previous classic big bear market bottom levels.

·        No solid bottom appears on the charts. We need a climatic sell off or a long low volume erosion to bottom.

·        Interest rates have to go up at some point, soon – either with and because of an economic rebound or from panic selling -- which normally depresses stock prices because of this new competitiveness from bonds.

·        The American consumer has suddenly stopped spending. This has slowed down business all over the world and finally exposed the global imbalances problems. Too much manufacturing in China and Asia and too much spending coming from America. Now those imbalances are being forced to readjust. Takes time.

·        The stock market is ignoring soaring unemployment. Yes, employment is a lagging indicator but continuing jobless claims isn’t. A new report just out says that in coming weeks and months, hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment benefits. Finally, 600,000 new job losses each month is going to add to weaker consumer spending, problems for local communities and cause negative ripple effects.

SCHWARTZ CONCLUSION: In review, we started this big bad bear market back in the year 2000. That was the peak of the last big bull market and thus the beginning of this big bear market. This is evidenced by the benchmark S&P 500 Double Topping in March 2000 and October 2007 and then subsequently and decisively breaking below October 2002’s previous decade-long lows by over 10% in March 2009. Showing that since 2000 and the ending of the Internet boom we’ve really been living on lower interest rates and big tax cuts, a false, “pump me up,” house of cards. Really not any wealth building going on, just paper shuffling to make things look great fueled by easy money credit creation. But now reality has set in. Thus, looking around, we see we’re almost nine years into a bear market which has been interspersed with one bull market, running for five years. So stocks were down almost two & a half years, up five years, now down about another one & a half years, sort of repeating The Visit of the Three Bears. In that infamous and extended bear market run of nine years, netting a -50% loss, there were two cyclical bull markets sprinkled in and surrounded and book-ended by the three bears, Baby, Mama and Papa.

My conclusion remains that this bear market is not over. But that the form and shape of it may get tricky going forward. Because the market has a history of posting cyclical or short term or mini bull markets on the way down when the bear gets ahead of itself. Which is why the stock market remains so fascinating!

THE ECONOMY

Well, the BUZZ has died down about how the economy is slowing its prior quick rate of descent. Guess because we’ve started seeing more bad economic data pop up or because the conversation has moved on. But some investors have decided an end to the economic collapse is out there, just over the horizon, so they are shifting into cyclical stocks now as a result. One can see this money rotating out of defensive sectors such as medical care, consumer staples and even gold. You know the concept, buying in advance of a recession’s end since history shows stocks rise roughly six months before the economy turns up. But if we indeed are stuck with a very mild even “anemic” economic recovery, as many figure, then stocks could also soon level off to mirror that trend as well. That is if the economic and earnings data don’t start sinking fast once again showing the economy is still sinking. For example, last Friday it was reported that the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index which now measures almost 90% of America’s economy - America now being a service oriented economy instead of a manufacturing economy - fell faster in March than in February somewhat debunking the idea that the economy has stabilized. Schwartz View: Yes, there is the possibility that economy-wise we are going to V- back up because sharp moves, in whatever areas of endeavor, are generally followed by responding sharp moves back up. We’re seeing that now in the stock market but after this bounce is over, I agree with the camp forecasting an anemic slow economic recovery.

THE STOCK MARKET

The stock market extended its rally to four straight weeks last week. We did see the first crack in this rally a week ago when the market fell sharply for two days. But then we quickly rebounded to new rally highs. That’s normal, the first crack being overcome but it does show this rally may be starting to struggle. We are getting closer to my minimum upside targets of Dow 8303 and S&P 1627, closing Friday at Dow 8017 and S&P 1621. And one can note trading volume has been slowing some, another sign of sluggishness. Or maybe cautiousness. Makes sense as we’re now moving into another corporate earnings reporting season starting tomorrow, the 1^st quarter January-March 2009 report kicking off after the close with Alcoa (AA), traditionally the first of the 30 Dow stocks to report. With the fall-off-the-cliff economy occurring early in last year’s fourth quarter, it only stands to reason that investors have to be wary of forthcoming earnings and thus wary of this rally as well. Schwartz View: It looks like the stock market has some more strength left in it so with stocks already having rallied beyond the 50% retracement level from their latest leg down, the early January peak, the teeter-totter phenomenon comes into play. Getting halfway up means it’s very likely to go all the way back up. Thus we kick off this week at roughly another key Fibonacci 61.8% price in both the Dow and S&P 500. That’s about 8088 and 838 respectively. If we break through those levels, then the next target is those January highs, Dow 9088 & S&P 944. Not guaranteed but increasingly likely.

PORTFOLIO STRATEGY

2009 may indeed prove to be the year to trade. If stocks fluctuate but go nowhere net, up or down, for many months ahead then it’s going to prove very frustrating for investors. In these times and they do happen, more often than the uninformed investor may realize, the best way to make profits is to: (1) trade individual stocks and (2) discipline yourself to continuously fade the market, buying on dips and selling on strength. Toward that end I’ve started incorporating the Commodity Channel Index (CCI) technical indicator into my work. Comes on most charting services like Bloomberg. Basically it shows deviations from the moving average, when stocks get too far overbought or oversold. Naturally you buy when a stock or index gets oversold. For more on the CCI I suggest getting Oliver Perez’s Swing Trading Tactics DVD or Alexander Elder’s book TRADING FOR A LIVING. Over the last month of rally for instance certain stocks have far outperformed the averages. And numerous tradable asset classes or market sectors like the US dollar and oil have been both up and down offering trading profits but no net profits for buy & holders.

Otherwise than scalping profits what should we do? For now favor the long side and the cyclicals. I like technology, renewable energy and natural resources. Move up a notch in your market exposure to about 30% if you haven’t already but continue to hedge your bets and don’t get out on a limb by going too long. Just subdue your ego, don’t think you know more than Mr. Market does and just go with the flow, modestly. Bottom line take what the market gives you, right now there are some trading opportunities but don’t get carried away. There’s lots more trouble to come but the path ahead is likely to get more tricky as well. So don’t fall into the camp that says “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”

Have a good week!

Go Tiger Go!

To Stimulate Or Not To Stimulate The US Economy

RichardSchwartz — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:29:00 GMT

ANTI-Stimulus Protest Demonstrations; Say What?

That’s a big global fear surrounding this global economic slump. History shows economic debacles like this breed unrest, anger, frustration among those losing their jobs, etc. and thus protest demonstrations. If one watches www.worldfocus.com or any other news global news show, you’ll see violent protests happening globally. In Eastern Europe as one example. In China too and especially. China’s government’s big fear, knowing it’s own history, is protests which bring down the government there. Making the upturn in global protests there and elsewhere important for all investors to track.

Yesterday’s Investor’s Business Daily (IBD) newspaper had a front page article reporting that anti-stimulus demonstrations have occurred in 35 American cities. Yes, these are small demonstrations so far, 100 or 200 people and organized by interest groups, but maybe they will grow in size after IBD gave them face time, i.e. publicity -- I hadn’t even heard about these protests at all until yesterday -- and also gave them such a nationalistic and catchy name: “Nationwide Tea Parties.” I read where these events are being organized by those groups who sarcastically say we should: “Legalize Capitalism!” Or who believe: “The best government, governs least.” And those who sardonically and exaggeratedly say: “No to socialism!” And are epitomized by one protestor’s sign which read: “Your mortgage is not my problem!”

Obviously US government stimulus spending to try to keep this weakened economy from getting worse is anathema to those who believe in the strict Austrian school of economics. That economic school says things just get screwed up terribly whenever the government gets involved. And who knows, maybe doing nothing, to try to shorten this downturn, was indeed the right move. But as I see it it’s too late now; we’re already committed. I’ve given up opining on what were the right and wrong roads to follow but let me also report there are a lot of other angry people in America today, those that say they are tired of lavish retreats and concerts, tired of private jets, tried of companies paying out huge bonuses with or without government money. Regular readers know I’ve been angry and pounding the table for many years about these excesses. So maybe we do or will have class warfare, that is if these anti-stimulus demonstrations get larger and cause more of a divide among all kinds of angry Americans.

Schwartz View: But as I see it, we’re now committed to this “bail out” path, we got committed a year ago when we bailed out the first company, Bear Stearns or whoever came first. This far along this path I can’t foresee us stopping now. Plus it only makes common sense for any government to try to stimulate the economy when the two other major sources of normal demand, consumer spending and business investment, are in total hunker down mode. The even bigger picture, as I see things from up on the mountaintop looking down at the valley and what’s happening, is that these demonstrations by those who say your problem is not my problem, are the last desperate efforts by those who still believe in the “me first” path America has been on for roughly three decades now. As I see it, the results of the recent US presidential election announced that the majority of Americans want big change in America, a change which returns the America Dream to the average working person once again and returns us to a more level playing field. And that means, even though there is some opposition, that America has now crossed the Rubicon, so to speak. Meaning we’ve just begun a 10-year or so cycle which puts public interest over private interest. History shows we do swing back and forth from longer periods, or about 20 years, of letting capitalism run unchecked and America showing strong economic growth as a result to shorter periods of about 10 years or so where we put the unfortunate and forgotten Americans first, which yes, also means slower economic growth as a result. (Please read Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s THE CYCLES OF AMERICAN HISTORY if you’d like more on this repetitive cycle.) All signs that I can detect today tell me that America is going to level the playing field, get rid of the excesses, the corruption and scamming of the system, in general just the overall greed which always naturally arises from allowing capitalism unchecked to run for too darn long. Again, I’m just observing what I see happening not opining whether it’s right or not. As for investment implications, for now stay hunkered down, practice extreme patience and proper money management while out waiting this Papa Bear market.

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Good trading, speculating and investing!

Monday Weekly Strategy

RichardSchwartz — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:37:00 GMT

Richard Schwartz's

PRINCIPLES OF THE STOCK MARKET

A learning, teaching, always evolving stock market letter and advisory service

Eighteenth Consecutive Year of Publication; Letter #1; September 18^th, 1990

Post Office Box 1236 · New Paltz, New York 12561 - U.S. A. · (845) 255-6894

E-mail address: RichardStk@aol.com

Subscription · One-Year Morning E-Mail Delivery · $150.00

Monday, December 22^nd, 2008: So here it is, last letter ‘till Monday, January 5^th, as Lucy & I fly off to the white sand, warm blue waters of the Caribbean, maybe on a last hurrah (if the economy keeps sliding). I’m taking Cycles of American History & Rethinking the Great Depression books. Our routine is: Go to the beach, play backgammon, read & go out to dinner. Day after day. Warm our bones & work on new tans.

THE BIG PICTURE

Friday I saw John Bogle, who has been on Wall Street for 50 years and who created the first index fund, the Vanguard 500 Index Fund back in 1975, say investment bankers and bankers generally owe the country a huge apology (which I doubt we ever get). Their imprudent speculations and greed for massive fees from too complex speculations led to today’s financial sector problems, problems which have now fed out to the real economy hurting innocent, hard working, everyday Americans. Mr. Bogle says greed has even spread out to our whole economy, that we’ve morphed into in a “me first” society and it’s something we have to seriously take a look at. Thus capitalism, allowing markets to work unfettered of regulation and based on trust and trusting, has now been “deeply discredited.” Even the underpinnings of capitalism have changed radically. We’re no longer an ownership society whereby individual stockholders used to select and then hold 92% of all common shares; institutions 8%. Now institutions control 75% of shares through huge sums entrusted to them by others and have not invested prudently. Again, because of the incredible fees they got for investing. Mr. Bogle says they sure wouldn’t manage their own monies so recklessly. These institutions were supposed to be wiser than individuals but, again, it’s not their money. Supporting Mr. Bogle’s view is the revelation that 29 of the 30 largest losers in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme scandal were institutions whereby just one of these fund of fund companies was paid $160 million in 2007 alone for recommending the Madoff “hedge fund.” In other words, where was the fiduciary responsibility, the prudency, the probity expected when we entrust institutions to manage 75% of our investments? Schwartz View: Regular readers know I’ve been distressed and pounding the table about a number of these societal issues for years. About capitalism running amuck, culminating its 30-year trend toward widening the gap between it and its counterpart, democracy, with President Bush’s skewed one way Texas twang policy saying the be all and end all is that “bidness is bidness” and thus stifling regulation. And about society becoming so uncivilized, we ended up booing our own hometown, beloved sports teams! So while no one wants to live through what may come next in the economy, I have to say America has finally woken up, albeit after the nightmare it usually takes to precipitate major change, and that we are now started down a long and arduous path, but one finally pointed in the right direction again. As one example, we’ve even started to SAVE once again; amazing! So, for myself, I guess sort of a contrary indicator in recent years, I’m becoming more optimistic and bullish on our future. Finally! “Go America Go!”

THE ECONOMY

It became apparent that the US economy was suddenly falling-off-a-cliff right after Lehman Brothers became the one firm chosen NOT to be bailed out by the Federal Reserve and US Treasury Department. (Looked back upon as a colossal mistake in strategy I’ve read.) Lehman’s bankruptcy rippled out far and wide and led directly to losses in some money market funds, a “breaking of the buck,” and thus then to a total loss of confidence. Now, by all accounts, the economy is in total free fall. This sudden screeching halt in US business activity has caused the same in our global trading partners and most everywhere I look is now in corresponding economic free fall. You extrapolate it for yourselves from here. One view I’m pondering is that many times sharp declines lead to the second leg of a V-move, back up, and we’re overdue. Maybe stocks, with their recent unwillingness to keep going lower on bad news, means Mr. Market (the consensus of large investors) sees some end out there to the economic free fall. Still, we’d have to see some economic revival to expect a sustained V snapback in stocks. For now, I see 2009 providing a steady stream of bad news every time we look up. Just like in the second year of the last Papa Bear bear market, back in 1974, a continuing stream of bad news back then ultimately overwhelmed all attempts to rally until the final months of that year. Schwartz View: The consensus I’m hearing is that this sudden, fall-off-the-cliff global economic contraction is NOT going to lead to a repeat of the depression-spawned 1930s starting with its four-year long period of contraction followed by its anemic recovery, a.k.a. the Great Depression. I hate to follow any consensus especially when this one’s been so wrong for so long. But my own history look backs and studies by Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, an expert on what went wrong in the 1930s, turning a recession into a depression, show that we raised taxes, cut spending and blocked global trade, just the wrong policies. So I sure don’t expect any exact repeat of those failed policies. Leading me to think out of the box and that maybe today’s Fed policy of battling a deflationary depression is also implementing incorrect strategy. How about worrying against runaway inflation spawning from all the money the US and now the world has and is still throwing at this economic slump? Just the problems we worried about in the early 1930s but didn’t occur. You know the old saying, people fight the wrong war, the old war, because that’s what’s still fresh in their minds. Thus, summing up, maybe we can’t expect much creativeness from the Fed pointing in the less obvious direction of battling inflation since they are entrusted with getting us through hard times. They will naturally, after learning certain lessons from the 1930s well, not break much new ground. One reason being that if their policies didn’t work, they would be heavily criticized for experimenting. Thus while everyone pooh-poohs an inflation problem, I still worry about one. Seems like the consensus, which may be correct, among the minority expecting and talking about an inflation problem, doesn’t expect one until 2010 at the earliest. Keeps me thinking about that quote I printed here back on Friday, December 5^th, from Sir John Templeton: “It’s impossible to produce a superior performance unless you do something different from the majority.”

THE STOCK MARKET

Maybe we’ve started off on a new, lasting stock market rally as many now say. Maybe the November 20^th closing low and November 21^st intraday low did end this bear market or at least this phase of it and start us up and on a new mini bull market. But I don’t think we can determine that from these final days of stock market trading this year. This jig jag, saw-tooth modest rally we’ve had in December – the Dow remains down -2.8% this month, but up +13.6% from its closing low on November 20^th – still looks like just a time killer rally to me after stocks fell -6% in September, -14% in October and another -5% in November. So while I’m off on my annual winter beach vacation, I’m leaving my managed portfolios hedged with a slight long bias, still with my modest overall about 20% or less market exposure which I’ve carried since late last year. You remember late last year? At least as a lesson learned for the future, if for no other reason. After the stock market rallied back from its original car wreck in July, in what amounted to a head fake, false move, dead cat bounce and pretty obvious sucker’s rally, and a failed break out to new highs by the Dow and S&P (while the rest of the stock market refused to confirm).

Anyway, last week I ended the letter by noting that psychologically we should rally since bad news couldn’t drive prices down in recent days. Technically we had what could prove to be two months of base building everywhere I looked on the charts (but bases which could easily prove false). Fundamentally we even finally had low enough market valuations, like P/E ratios, to support a rally as well. But how about a catalyst? Well, let me offer up: (1) much lower gasoline prices which keeps our wallets and purses fuller and healthier, and (2) the good feelings anyone watching our president-elect making non-partisan, non-political, non-ideological selections for his cabinet, should feel. There may be a wellspring of good feeling, a sort of honeymoon psychological effect on investors, business, consumers and most all of us as we hope our new president can perform miracles. Schwartz View: Unfortunately no one man is going to remake America overnight. So, while keeping an open mind and watching all unfolding developments, for now I’ll back history which says this “worst financial crisis since the Great Depression” has to lead to an extended Papa Bear market, one which lasts at least a couple of years. Not just for one year, where we stand today.

PORTFOLIO STRATEGY

I hate to follow or even agree with some of what I’m hearing about going forward strategy, especially if such is espoused by those who were so wrong all this year. I’m speaking specifically about Bob Doll, now at BlackRock as their “Trillion Dollar” fund manager. I don’t want to pick on anyone but since he’s been leading the charge forward as stock markets collapse and getting all the face time doing such, I guess I have to. I start off very skeptical because my belief is that these big money managers are not going to get on TV and recommend anything before they and their clients get first crack at their thinking, ideas and recommendations and position themselves accordingly. I already wrote awhile back many old stock market books talk extensively about how big money always used to try to sucker the little investors. The age old technical Wall Street term “distribution” implied big guys needed little guys to unload their big positions on to when they foresaw a bear market ahead and thus put on a bullish face. It took much time to unload huge positions these large investors stockpiled so much frenzied excitement about the stock market had to be built up as big money sold. What better way today than Bob Doll coming on CNBC ubiquitously and always saying we are now in a bottoming process. He said that back in March and those who followed him are much the worst after the October panic crash. Anyway, that’s all secondary, although supporting, my main point. My main point is that Mr. Doll now says next year is going to be a good one for those taking on risk, not for those playing it safe. Again sounds good to me, at least at first blush. We all know what goes down the most generally can bounce tremendously when psychology changes. But do we really want to buy really risky investments in just the early part of the second year of a big, bad bear market? I say no. Bear markets of this size and scope historically have taken a lot longer than one year to work through.

Net, net, probably Mr. Doll will be proven correct about taking on risk, if one doesn’t factor in any time period. I’d guess risky asset classes will move fast when this bear market ultimately does end but do I really believe its going to end soon? No. And if we do have a 2009 mini bull market, say because stocks have fallen so much, then I’m not going to count on Bob and other institutional investors to tell me and us exactly when to get back out. No, starting off next year next week, I’d suggest still playing our cards close to the vest. Yes, play modestly for a continuing rally but look at it for now as just a bear market rally.

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!

Richard

Re-Regulation Begins a Multi-Decade Road

RichardSchwartz — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 14:39:00 GMT

THE BIG PICTURE

Today’s Big Picture view revolves around the probable coming re-regulation of the financial markets. History shows regulation of markets is similar to a grandfather’s clock pendulum swinging back and forth although not as regular. A brief look back to the start of the 20^th century, shows free markets and a first age of globalization, with the introduction of the telegraph and telephone, steamships and railways, at a peak. Millions even migrated without passports while trade flourished meaning free markets were in charge.

· Governments Take Charge. Then, in August 1914, with World War I, that age ended abruptly. WWI left people disillusioned and looking for something better and many turned to socialism and communism. The Russian Revolution in 1917 drew followers and essentially sought to end capitalism for good, making private property illegal. Socialists and other government controlled economic systems were winning the battle of ideas, governments were in charge, free markets were in retreat. In less than 30 years, one third of humanity, including Eastern Europe, China and the Soviet Union, would be living under socialism or communism. Capitalism looked to be doomed except for in America. The 1920s in America was still a boom time, Americans buying cars, buying illegal gin, buying stock. Radio was the Internet of the 1920s. It was a classic bubble. Finally the 1929 stock market crash started Americans on the way to despair, a complete economic collapse "with no ability to earn, repay, spend, consume." Everything spiraled downward while about half the banks in the US closed. America turned toward government for help and thus re-regulation with President Roosevelt’s numerous new government regulatory agencies. Around the globe, governments gained power … over free markets. In Italy, Spain and Germany fascism took charge. World War II then arrived and even afterwards people all around the globe still blamed capitalism for causing the depression. The whole world kept moving towards more regulated economies. England even went socialistic as Winston Churchill, the great war leader, was beaten by the socialists! Most of the world operated under this sort of government planning process for the next 30 years.

· Free Markets Regain Control. But in the 1970s free markets began a resurgence. Margaret Thatcher came to power in England with free market thoughts as did Ronald Regan here in the US. with his Reganomics. Both cut back on government regulations, giving markets more ascendancy and free markets again starting coming to the forefront. England started privatizing its economy while President Regan cut taxes and let free markets regain control as epitomized by breaking the air controllers strike. Thus capitalism got a free hand which lasted for aboutt 30 years, even through the dot.com boom and bust. But after last year’s incredible debacle with investment banks, money center banks, insurance companies, etc. losing billions after irresponsibly leveraging up their investments 20 or 30 times, it’s apparent to most everyone that, just like in the 1930s, we can’t afford to have any similar financial market collapse spawning from totally free markets to happen again any time soon.

Schwartz View: So after reviewing the history of the 20th century and seeing how over long periods, market regulation swings back and forth, I have to figure we’ve just started a long term swing back on the way to re-regulation. For more on this topic, I recommend you watch Commanding Heights, the Battle for the World Economy, by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw which was turned into a DVD and a PBS prouction, a wonderful esplanation of the battle for economic minds in the 20th century. Filled in some missing pieces for me and should for you all as well.

Monday Weekly Overview Sample Letter

RichardSchwartz — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:19:00 GMT

Richard Schwartz's

PRINCIPLES OF THE STOCK MARKET

A learning, teaching, always evolving stock market letter and advisory service

Seventeenth Consecutive Year of Publication; Letter #1; September 18^th, 1990

Post Office Box 1236 · New Paltz, New York 12561 - U.S. A. · (845) 255-6894

E-mail address: Richardstk@aol.com

Subscription · One-Year Morning E-Mail Delivery · $150.00

Monday, July 28^th, 2008: Your New Paltz, NY SUNFLOWER update: A few sunflowers have popped but I noticed the farmer’s market has alternated its plantings so any time you visit you should see some. Just spectacular!

THE BIG PICTURE

Looks like one potential US and global leader gets it. Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, to shore up his lack of experience on the global stage, embarked on a global tour last week. And was again able to put his finger on the pulse of the world and his audience, exhibiting his knowledge of history and this particular critical point in time speaking at the historic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. While he didn’t rock star the crowd, fine with me, it was good to see he continues his role as alienate no one, moderator showing again he understands all sides of issues and is committed to leading by example. While not denigrating any political party, say our Republicans, or country, say Old Europe. Thus there is hope that America will soon embark on a new direction, one of getting things done by bringing all parties together and then making logical and effective, not ideological, decisions, forgoing our previous path of fostering divisiveness in the world, between our two political parties and among the American people ourselves.

Schwartz View: Enough said. I always get negative feedback when treading in political waters. I do like presumptive Republican presidential nominee and American hero John McCain quite a lot but just feel we have to drastically change policies going forward, not follow a similar path. America needs to get it’s act together quickly as all long range forecasters have reached consensus, saying we’re on a downward slide, financially, politically, economically, socially. We just need to start cohesively tackling our problems.

THE ECONOMY

Numerous economists last week admitted that the US economy is weakening. Among them Brian Bethune of Global Insight, James O’Sullivan at UBS and Moody’s John Lonski. So, in spite of the US not posting two straight quarters of negative GDP growth, the old and easy definition of a recession, and one not used any longer by the National Bureau of Economic Research which calls and dates recessions but problematically many months late -- remember in today’s new globalized world we need to learn new economic relationships! -- it looks like a recession is here. And in my view is going to stay with us for quite some time. That’s because America has been moneying-over all near term problems for many, many years, thus postponing the always needed recessionary cleansing and efficientizing of the US economy, while we’ve also avoiding developing and implementing solutions to our long term ills, like our increasing oil dependency, our underfunded government pension plans, Social Security and former Fed head Alan Greenspan’s #1 concern, Medicare. America does have a bad habit of avoiding problems until they reach crisis state. Maybe that’s because our representative democracy has become so dysfunctional here in the US. I would suggest we start fixing things right there in Washington by first getting rid of lobbying which skews everything toward those with the money to get their voices heard. Even corporate America, who now realizes it’s entrapped by this self-perpetuating system, would like nothing better than to see lobbying go away as big business now has to carry and fund a large and increasingly onerous lobbying budget.

Schwartz View: All I’ve read recently has been about how there are so many inefficiencies corrupting our inherently great economic and social framework that it’s a wonder anything can get done. Such as the US having 600,000 lawyers while Japan has 15,000 (those figures were about 10 years back but obviously haven’t changed for the better). And all the broken marriages and unwed mothers costing America a fortune as well. It’s almost funny, after encouraging the rest of the world to move to free markets for decades, when the Soviet Union collapsed and showed the economic rot hidden there, the world finally started followed our recommendations. And economic success followed suit but that led to tremendous and widespread global competition, so it’s vital we get our own act together as soon as possible, to just keep up. Thus the silver lining to this current economic slowdown, a slowdown that isn’t responding to our normal response of throwing money at it, is that crisis is when change really does occur in America

THE STOCK MARKET

Stocks have again gotten ahead of themselves on the downside although not as much out of whack as at the first bottom back in mid-March. Figuring the Dow Industrials and S&P 500’s previous bull market tops were set back last October, after nine months of a bear market or at the recent July 15^th lows, we are down on average about 2.5% per month versus the historic average bear market monthly decline of 2%. So we could easily see a backing and filling trading range here and now or even a modest rally, the two normal ways bear markets correct themselves. Much government intervention has come together to force down the price of oil and thus commodities in general, prop up housing and consumer spending, keep the financial system from breaking down completely and holding interest rates way below the rate of inflation. So all this government stimulus has to go somewhere just as previous stimulus found places to bubble up. Plus new government props and controls historically have been able to put a temporary fix in place.

Still, over a period of time the stock market reflects the economy and things aren’t really getting any better there, despite Q2 GDP growth out this Thursday going to again be positive. In point of fact, the economy is continuing to get worse if one looks under the surface at signals like credit spreads, a rough definition being the difference in yield between US government bonds and non-US government guaranteed bonds, which remain wide. Or if we factor in historic trends which show that economic downturns tend to surface hidden problems which end up feeding on themselves. Today’s continuing wide credit spreads mean at some point MBIA & Ambac and Fannie & Freddie, the other 17 big financials which have also been taken off the allowed short selling list & all the other financials who’ve lost billions of dollars aren’t going to be able to hide things any longer and are going to have to really own up. So stocks remain iffy for now. And with the rug pulled out from under the remaining stock leadership in the stock market over the last two weeks, out from under energy, the energy complex and other commodities, any market rallies are going to be just technically based, say from an oversold position or short sellers being forced to cover. Sure, a rally may then feed on itself and last longer than bears think, but should ultimately roll over as data worsens.

Schwartz View: Technically then, we could be embarking on a summer rally and if so sharp traders with the courage to risk their monies in the propped up financials may be able to scalp the stock market. And other pockets of strength should or may show up (hopefully in the health sector as that is now my focus with my few longs) normally searched out and propelled along by momentum players.

PORTFOLIO STRATEGY

LONG TERM PORTFOLIO STRATEGY continues to be hunkering down until this big storm passes. I expect that to be longer than most government and Wall Street economists and market strategists believe or at least publicly state. Publicly state because we all know that bearish Wal Street analysts and economists ultimately get fired and that in the aftermath of the dot.com bubble bursting, we got some theretofore hidden insight into what analysts really think. I see widely-followed, economist Nouriel Roubini, formerly holding various high level economic advisory positions in government, believes the US and European economies are now sinking as last Friday he said Wall Street was in spin mode and that financial institutions are “… manipulating at will their earnings, and analysts [are] falling for this supreme baloney.”

NEAR TERM PORTFOLIO STRATEGY depends more on whether this two-week, fledgling rally proves it has legs or not. I’m using as a key gauge whether the Dow and S&P are able to close above their last Wednesday’s closing highs, Dow 11,632.40 and S&P 1282.19. If these key indices close higher, then we will have the definition of a new up trend in place, a series of higher lows and higher highs. Strategy then will be to favor the long side but with say with no more than 50% at most market exposure. Planning on a modest summer rally for a month or two, with strategy being trying to scalp some short term profits.

AS FOR INCOME INVESTORS, we’ve all gotten used to our income fixes after 25 years of income investing being easy during a bull market in bonds, meaning just riding the trend toward lower and lower long term rates, I know it’s a struggle for you all today. My best suggestion is to watch for weakness in income sectors, say in utilities, royalty trusts and even REITs, then strike. Only move in and in a small manner AFTER a sector has just been blasted. This gives you some profit buffer as primary extended downtrends many times have sharp sell offs after disillusioned investors finally give up hope and sell, right before they rally. This can get you in at unusually good prices, at least for the near and intermediate term.

INCOME IDEAS. Thus I would currently search through the utility sector as the Dow Utility Index has just fallen a sharp -8% over the last two weeks. Or take another look at my previous July 11^th, 2008 two energy income recommendation Cross Timber Royalty Trust (CRT) and San Juan Basin Royalty Trust (SJT), both haven tumbled hard with crude. Both go ex-dividend tomorrow, meaning today’s the last day to get in to collect the substantial August dividend (both pay monthly). Or finally, revisit my other income recommendation, back on July 10^th, 2008, of two large European pharmas, GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) paying moderate dividend yields of 4.4% and 5.8% respectively. You need to buy GSK today to be entitled to this quarter’s dividend and buy AZN soon before it goes ex-dividend (not declared yet but last year it went ex on August 8^th). Good income investing!

Have a great week!

UPDATE ON THE STOCK MARKET: Written Wed., June 18, 2008: 6:30 a.m.

RichardSchwartz — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:02:00 GMT

Wednesday, June 18^th, 2008: Woke up singing this morning … “Doo-da, Doo-da”… and I don’t sing! Watched the coronation of the Boston Celtics as NBA champs last night … “Goin’ to run all night, Goin’ to run all day” … and loved this epitome of team play. What a team! “Celts and Tiger win it all … Oh, de doo-da day” Yep, I’m on Cloud 9 with Tiger, the role model for the world, & the Celtics, both winning!

UPDATE ON THE STOCK MARKET. Another rough, rocky early summer bear market day in the stock market yesterday. The stock market media and their mostly, bullish-biased guests still searching far and wide for catchy ideas and some reasons to keep others involved and interested in this “pros-only” stock market. I mean a market environment or backdrop whereby, for some, the jury remains out on whether the bad news is pretty much all out and Mr. Market is all done factoring it in and is now ready to morph back into bull market mode. Rationalizing that the credit crisis is over, there’s no recession ahead and that rising inflation will soon recede. Let me respond to that with a “Sure Carm!” as we used to say as kids when we didn’t believe for a second what was told us. Today, what’s being told or fed us is called “spin.” Anyhow, I don’t believe any of the above, that the credit crisis is past, that there’s no recession lying ahead and that we have no inflation problem now. I liken all this rationalizing to stock market impatience. Market players and the financial media wanting to get past all bad news, now, immediately. But, hey, it just doesn’t work that way. Economics and economic trend changes take time, lots of time. My reading, reading and more reading tells me that today’s bullish view is rationalizing and is normal investor psychology about 1/3^rd of the way through a bear market, the stage where investors still cling to, believe in the bull and thus mentally fight and rail against the stark fact that a bear market has begun. Schwartz View: Yep, I see yesterday’s down day, led by the once again weak financials, being just a normal day in an extended bear market, a bear market spawned by a boom gone bust, and now driven by economic causes, the down phase of the business cycle. For most I would hunker down, position your portfolios to ride out a storm and maybe take a summer vacation this year. In fact, that’s what I’m doing, unusual for me as I usually just go to the beach in the winter time. This year Lucy and I are going to find our “way to San Jose” to visit her best friend in two weeks. (In fact, I have to soon audition stock market books to read on the plane flight out and back).

US Slowdown Spreading Global

RichardSchwartz — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:49:00 GMT

GLOBAL VIEW. Yep, when I started reading the Bloomberg newswire this morning, I found: (1) that European “retail sales declined -2.9% in April, more than three times as much as economists forecast,” (2) that March’s retail spending was revised downward from -1.6% to -2.3%, (3) that UK services “unexpectedly contracted for the first time in five years,” taking the reading below the 50 level which delineates expansion from contraction and which shows “…service companies shed jobs at the fastest pace since 1996,” (4) that S&P says the risk of default is rising in Europe and that (5) which we already knew, that European inflation is rising at the fastest pace in 16 years. So it’s no wonder Europe is having a really bad stock market day today. Schwartz View: My sense is that the US economic slowdown is fast going global, well, slowly if you operate on right now Wall Street time, but fast if you really think about how economics works, almost always with a time lag. Thus Europe today is just providing me with more evidence today that my sub-section headline in this space yesterday:

“INFLATION IS RISING, WORLDWIDE, & THINGS KEEP GETTING WORSE”

is right on track. My best advice? Hunker down with what you plan on holding if we do experience the worst economy and worst stock market since the Papa Bear market of 1973 – 1974 over the next couple of years. (1973-1974 was a period very similar to today if you take a look back at comparables.)

Oil Near a Peak? Yes.

RichardSchwartz — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:56:00 GMT

OIL VIEW. I’ve been reading a lot about oil, the current state and the history of oil as we see prices keep rising and we all wonder where a top is. So below are some interesting tidbits which I’ve unearthed from the Internet (a great modern day development!) for you to ponder, some obvious, some insightful (I hope):

· OPEC has used oil as a weapon against western countries in the past. Schwartz View: A bad precedent. The October 1973 embargo effectively raised prices quickly and sharply to a new plateau (from $3 a barrel in 1972 to $12 a barrel) which lasted for the rest of the 1970s.

· The Iran revolution (getting rid of the Shah) in 1978 and the following war between Iraq and Iran in September 1980 again raised the price of oil quickly, doubling oil prices from $14 to $35 a barrel by 1981. Schwartz View: So both times oil rose sharply in price and stayed there.

· Oil is notoriously price inelastic according to some researchers. Another reports says: “The supply and demand for oil are both inelastic in the short run …” Which is what commodity guru Jim Rogers sees, that it takes many years for oil supplies to increase when demand increases which is his basis for the whole commodity complex to keep rising. Schwartz View: I’ve been waiting a year or so now for “higher prices to resolve higher prices.” Now I understand this is a too simplistic argument and why it hasn’t happened that way just yet. Another reason is because we are much less dependent on oil today. “Energy costs;’ share of GDP has fallen from 8% in 1973 to 2% today.” (From an Internet article written in 2005).

· Over time though, the supply and demand for oil is more elastic. Schwartz View: Thus the past history of oil prices rising sharply, then slowly sliding lower over time as more supply comes on board. Probably the price pattern we’ll follow again although we’ve likely raised the base price level or floor such as transpired in the past.

· Commodity (and China) guru Jim Rogers says his research shows commodity bull markets last roughly 17 years. Schwartz View: I see the price of oil slid from 1981 to November 1998 when it bottomed out about $13 a barrel. Just about when Rogers called a new commodity bull market.

· From the last bear market bottom in oil in 1998, we’ve had the first bull market leg up from the bottom in November 1998 to June 2000 as oil rose from $11 to $35 a barrel. Then after a price correction downward and a breather, we put in a 2^nd bull leg up from November 2001 at $20 to a peak around Hurricane Katrina at about $75. After that blow off peak, prices fell for five months coming back to $50. Since it’s been straight up in a third bull market leg. Schwartz View: Since we’ve now put in the normal three legs up which compose a full bull market we could easily be due for a sharp and severe pullback in oil.. Especially so since I see a guest on CNBC talking up $200 oil, bullish predictions being a normal sign of bulls getting carried away just before a top.

· The US placed price controls on domestically produced oil during the first energy shock in the early 1970s. This caused US consumers to pay less for gasoline than they otherwise would have. Longer term, price controls kept America from reducing our oil consumption in the middle 1970s and thus our dependence on foreign oil producers. Thus when the 2^nd oil shock hit in the late 1970s we were much more negatively impacted by prices jumping sharply. Schwartz View: This is why I advocate keeping oil prices high now, let America take the pain now, so money keeps flowing into developing alternate energy sources. Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the 1970s!

· History shows higher oil prices in the early 1970s, the late 1970s and then in 1990 after Iraq invaded Kuwait all led to recessions. Schwartz View: Maybe it will be different this time around but we all know predicting “this time it’s different” usually proves disastrously wrong.

· Here’s the rationale behind higher oil prices leading to recession: “Higher oil prices have historically led to recessions because they act as a tax on spending by absorbing consumer dollars that would be spent elsewhere, by reducing corporate profits through increased costs and lower demand, and by causing higher inflation which in turn causes higher interest rates.” Schwartz View: All of which seem to be developing today except, so far, higher interest rates because the Fed has been lowering shot term rates to free up the frozen-up financial system. These lower rates which ultimately should lead to even higher inflation.

· The 1970s were characterized by “stagflation” after sharply higher oil prices raised inflation levels while simultaneously reducing economic growth. Schwartz View: Isn’t the same economic ripple effect happening right now? I’d say yes.

· The 10-year US Treasury bond yield rose from 6% to 15% during the oil shocks in the early and late 1970s. Schwartz View: This time the 10-year, benchmark Treasury bond yield has stayed low because of the credit crunch and the “flight to safety” trade by investors. Doesn’t it seem logical that when the Fed stops lowering rates and/or says the credit markets are back to normal, long term interest rates will once again rise? Does to me. In fact, higher long term rates may be happening now. That’s one big reason why I’m not recommending bonds and haven’t been.

SCHWARTZ SUMMING UP. Actually I could go on and on researching and commenting on oil. And I’m interested in continuing my research so I may add a few more comments/insights in coming days. But for now the history & current spike higher in oil makes me predict that soon we’ll see some type of peak in oil very soon!

Don't Be Waylaid by Economic Spin!

RichardSchwartz — Wed, 28 May 2008 15:03:00 GMT

THE BIG PICTURE

Last Monday I presented the bull’s three pronged case, that: (1) the credit crisis is past it’s worst stages, (2) that we can skirt a recession or just experience a mild one and (3) that we have good value in stocks today. I offered the bull’s view up for balance, to see both sides to a story but I have to admit I don’t fully believe in it. Sure no one can predict the future therefore the bull’s argument may turn out to be correct but after trying to look at both sides fairly, I still wouldn’t doubt that the credit crisis lingers, that we do have an US recession which spreads out globally and that stocks thus really don’t offer good value here, not with the economy getting worse, not better, which is still my conclusion.

Thus today, for today’s Big Picture perspective, let me highlight a few key points made in Peter Schiff’s 2007 book, Crash Proof. First, Mr. Schiff (who gets lots of face time on CNBC anytime they want a bear on) says America is headed in the wrong direction morphing from an industrial economy over to a service economy. He says we need to continue to produce goods, one key way to produce wealth. Schwartz: Sort of a shocker to me as I haven’t read many economists taking this position. But it makes good common sense, right? Manufacturing is what got America this wealthy in the first place. Today’s service economy – flipping hamburgers, working in Macy’s, processing lawsuits, etc. – doesn’t seem like it’s producing any wealth. Second, Mr. Schiff has a big problem with measuring how much Americans spend as equal to economic growth. Schwartz: Again, common sense agrees with Mr. Schiff. Spending doesn’t produce wealth, just the opposite, it uses up what wealth we’ve built up. Third, people have to live within their means, why shouldn’t countries like America be bound by the same rules? Schwartz: As a country, we’ve gotten around balancing our budget because of the Bretton Woods Conference & agreement in 1944 which established the US dollar as the world’s exchange currency. But nothing lasts forever and the trend today is away from the dollar. Fourth, that the US government and our Federal Reserve has lost its way. The Fed was set up in 1913, after the Bank Panic of 1907, to provide an elastic money supply, expanding during economic expansions and shrinking during economic contractions. Schwartz: But somehow the money supply now just keeps expanding through good times and bad. Fifth, the US government keeps pumping up inflation by its constant increase in the money supply but keeps concealing inflation’s rise through the use of distorted economic data which they change whenever it serves their purposes. Schwartz: We all know that kicking out food and energy is a big ruse. That inflation today indeed is a lot higher than reported. Sixth, recessions are normal occurrences and serve an important purpose. Sure, economic fallbacks are no fun but they do clean out the imbalances built and fostered during previous economic expansions. Schwartz: Today, politicians go out of their way to attempt to avoid recessions. You know why, because of their own self interests.

Schwartz View: I’m only halfway through Mr. Schiff’s book but one key point I’m unearthing in chapter after chapter is his application of pure common sense when it comes to economics. Liars figure is an old saying and maybe what this generation of investors has lost is plain old common sense, sort of disguised by government figuring and refiguring in their data reporting. And of course, today we now have constant, 24-hour media coverage of financial markets which obviously is going to always highlight Pollyanna bulls like Larry Kudlow. Thus we have to fight through this constant bullish spin which can be incredibly tough to do. After spin after spin takes over any argument, eventually we’re all lost at sea about what the truth is. Mr. Schiff tries to cut through this maze by bringing common sense back to the equation. Thanks Peter! (You can get his book on www.Amazon.com. I recommend it.)

Recession Risk Over? Pushed Back Maybe, Over No

RichardSchwartz — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:38:00 GMT

THE ECONOMY

Written Monday, May 5th, 2008: Regular Weekly Overview:

Numerous economists are now saying the possibility of an US recession has passed. I think this change of viewpoint began about a week plus back when the Durable Goods Orders–Ex Transports for March rose +1.5%, better than the +0.5% expected. While on the same day, Thursday, April 24^th, Initial Jobless Claims for the week ended April 19^th rose less than expected. I think I read “the recession risk is over” the next day, from just which economist, sorry, I can’t remember. Whatever, now I’m hearing the risk of recession is over from numerous sources, including Larry Kudlow of CNBC (‘course he’s always bullish so take his views with a large grain of salt; interestingly, he essentially makes his living by being bullish). Anyway, I agree with economist Kudlow’s premise (which was highlighted by Alan Greenspan in 2007 book: The Age of Turbulence) if not his prediction. The premise that the US economy has become amazingly resilient. That the mighty US economy -- the strongest and by three times the largest economy in the world -- can easily weather a lot more problems, crises and body blows than in decades past. Likely one major reason behind this new resiliency is because inflation hasn’t been a problem for the last 25 years or since former Fed head Paul Volker broke the back of runaway inflation in the early 1980s. But as Greenspan goes on to predict in his book, and publicly as recently as this a.m. in a Bloomberg interview, this inflation buffer has now gone away. That, basically, I’m speaking now, we benefited greatly from non-existent inflation for the last 20 years or all during the commodity bear market running from 1980 through 2000 when we essentially had “too much of everything” to work off, a.k.a. the down phase of he larger Kondratieff Wave business cycle. But now we’re back in a commodity bull market and the beginnings of resurgent, problematic inflation. Usually major trend changes start with a dramatic burst in the opposite direction (before settling back to catch their breadth) and today’s remerging inflation problem has been no exception. No one can believe that oil is above $100 and food costs are soaring like they are, but the fact is they are. Goods coming in from China and elsewhere are on the price rise as well. It’s a new economic world or as Greenspan went on to say this morning, the economy is reverting back to the period when inflation was more problematic: “We’re going back to where we were before the end of the Cold War.”

Schwartz View: I continue to believe we are on the verge of a recession and a bear of one. But it could be pushed back and camouflaged as no one really can exactly time the lags involved with economics. For example, the tax rebate checks millions of Americans should start receiving any day now will obviously fuel consumer spending in the near term. History shows 30% to 40% will be spent right away. But I read in www.Comstockfunds.com Friday that the 90,000 job cut announcements the tracking firm Challenger Gray & Christmas reported this April is up 27% from a year ago. So I continue to see this slow motion economic slowdown progressing into recession. Maybe the recession will not arrive fully until next year as, remember, another theory of mine has long been that its only when our troops start arriving home from Iraq that we’ll have to worry about the economy, and providing them with jobs. Sort of the straw that breaks the economy’s back. For now all we can do is monitor the incoming data while playing cautiously.