Investment & Finance Thread (Father's Day edition)

Daily investment & finance thread ^ | June 15, 2014 | Freeper Investors

[expat_panama]

Happy Father's Day! 

Seems there's no shortage of ideas out there on fathers and investing, there's an entire series of books (Rich Dad’s Rich Kid Smart Kid, etc.) but (imho) the ideas can be boiled down into a short list (from here):

• Children all have different learning styles and parents need to understand what that child’s unique style is an help them harness it so they can form a successful life plan

• Trying to force a child into a style they will not be successful in leads to frustration and substandard results.

• Formal schooling under serves non academic learning styles and financial education principles.

• Parents must fill in the gaps and help their children find their correct learning style, build a life plan around it, and teach basic financial principles that lead to success. This needs to start early in life and according to Kiyosaki the ages 9-15 are especially critical.

• The concept of making your money work for you vs. working for your money is the critical idea that is repeated. Teaching the difference between income producing assets vs. things that depreciate in value and cost money is critical to creating the mindset of the rich.

FWIW, my favorite on the list is the last one...

This is the thread where folks swap ideas on savings and investment --here's a list of popular investing links that freepers have posted here and tomorrow morning we'll go on with our--

Open invitation continues always for idea-input for the thread, this being a joint effort works well.   Keywords: financial, WallStreet, stockmarket.

[BipolarBob]

Thanks for posting. I now have a new strategy thanks to this enlightening article. The bad side of town is swarming with fat kids.

/s

[Wyatt's Torch]

Perfect! Let me know some good stock tips after you sit on them ;-)

[expat_panama]

Looks like stocks did OK yesterday in spite of everything, and today index futures are up beat also.  Yesterdays reports came in better than expected and today we got Housing Starts/Building Permits + CPI.  Other news:

Market Edges Up, But Leading Stocks Shine  06/16/2014 07:00 PM ET - Stocks chopped around and ended mildly higher for a second straight session Monday. But it was the leaders that gave a strong showing...

Asian stocks mixed as investors wait for Fed Washington Post - 5 hours ago HONG KONG - Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday as investors remained cautious ahead of a meeting by the Federal Reserve that's expected to give an update on forecasts for the world's No.

David Brat Gets It Right About the Subprime Crisis - Editorial, Investor's

Regulations Are Strangling the Internet Economy - Wayne Brough, RCM

[expat_panama]

tx fer the sector chart; where did u say that came from?

Interesting that it's got the s&p down, this other site breaks down the s&p into its own sectors w/ an aplet for time frames; this is what I was looking at (from here) for a day/week/month:

[Wyatt's Torch]

Got it from a trader on Twitter

Housing starts miss, Permits miss, CPI miss

[expat_panama]

Yeah, no I remember.

Dang, the rpts all disappointed; index futures tanking...

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

In the for what it’s worth department truckers are shipping more

“ATA Truck Tonnage Index Increased 1% in May

Arlington, Va. — American Trucking Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index increased 1% in May, following a revised 0.9% gain the previous month. In May, the index equaled 129.7 (2000=100) versus 128.3 in April. The index is off just 1% from the all-time high in November 2013 (131.0).

Compared with May 2013, the SA index increased 3.4%, down from April’s 4.2% year-over-year gain, but is the second largest increase in 2014. Year-to-date, compared with the same period last year, tonnage is up 2.9%.”

http://www.trucking.org/article.aspx?uid=7e9648a1-c98b-4cf1-aee1-df3d18d644c4

[expat_panama]

Good morning!  After yesterday morning's report scare the day ended as "Nasdaq and S&P 500 extended their winning streaks to three sessions Tuesday"  and now we've got futures upbeat --ok, stock indexes barely up waiting for the Fed rates.  Today also the trade balance and the Mortgage Index.  Some headlines:

Dollar holds firm as markets sniff risks of Fed hawkishness The dollar held firm on Wednesday after a surprisingly high reading for U.S. inflation raised expectations that Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen could strike a more hawkish tone on the monetary policy outlook. The risk of a faster U.S. policy tightening was high enough to keep European stocks on the defensive, following earlier…
Consumer price index jumps 0.4% in May as inflation heats up Los Angeles Times - 9 hours ago Food prices rose 0.7% in May. The recent surge in the consumer price index was caused largely by rising prices for food and gasoline.
Fed could jolt markets with rate-hike views MarketWatch - 5 hours ago NEW YORK (MarketWatch) - U.S. investors are catching a case of the Fed-day jitters, an old nemesis that temporarily disappeared from the markets.
Where Did All The Young Workers Go? - Stephen Moore, Investor's Business
The Inflation Era Has Arrived! - EconMatters
Is The Taper Too Little, Too Late? - Jeffrey Snider, Alhambra Partners

[expat_panama]

truckers are shipping more

Tx fer the headsup, and shipping growth seems to be longer term:

After my morning coffee it'd be nice to see if the numbers go back a decade or two and what happened after.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Here is a longer term chart back to 73.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yQwcOosrQqM/TqcGiQ3cUbI/AAAAAAAAK_M/a2EhTIHei8o/s1600/ATATruckingSept2011.jpg

[abb]

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/djta.asp

Definition of ‘Dow Jones Transportation Average - DJTA’

A price-weighted average of 20 transportation stocks traded in the United States. The Dow Jones Transportation Average (DJTA) is the oldest U.S. stock index, compiled in 1884 by Charles Dow, co-founder of Dow Jones & Company. The index initially consisted of nine railroad companies - a testament to their dominance of the U.S. transportation sector in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - and two non-railroad companies. In addition to railroads, the index now includes airlines, trucking, marine transportation, delivery services and logistics companies.

Railroad Union Pacific is the only one of the original DJTA components to continue in the index.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average is closely watched to confirm the state of the U.S economy, especially by proponents of Dow Theory. This theory maintains that as the industrials make and the transports take, the DJTA should confirm the trend of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), with a divergence indicating a potential reversal of the trend. In other words, if the DJIA is climbing while the DJTA is falling, it may signal economic weakness ahead, since goods are not being transported at the same rate at which they are being produced, suggesting a decline in nationwide demand.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Thanks. I was basically just a casual observer of the Dow but your link led me to this

Why The Dow Matters
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/08/dow-history.asp

I think I may start watching a little closer.

[expat_panama]

TX!  Interesting how the two indexes work together (graph DJTI + Truck Index).

Kind of looks like the stocks are a leading indicator for production as usual, but production in the services is so hard to really measure, especially shipping.  Usually measured in "ton-miles" but if some shipper runs a super computer program that reroutes trucks so as to increase deliveries and cut miles then production numbers fall while profits soar and customers are ecstatic.

Another question I got is how come if you send something by land it's called a "shipment" but if you send it by sea it's called a "cargo"?

[Wyatt's Torch]

Post Fed reaction:

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Cool!

[Wyatt's Torch]

I think Jonny Manziel is in there somewhere...

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

Can’t say I blame him.

[expat_panama]

Good Morning!  Stocks rallied in higher volume and the major indexes scored a fourth gain in a row Wednesday and this morning all futures markets (except energies) are up --stock indexes +0.06% and metals +0.59%.  Reports today:

Initial Claims Continuing Claims Philadelphia Fed Leading Indicators Natural Gas Inventories

Usually reliable confirmation bias sources:

Fed-fueled stocks fly, dollar sags; oil nine-month high on Iraq  Global stocks and emerging market assets rallied on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve signaled that rising inflation won't trigger an interest rate rise any time soon.
China says moving 2nd rig closer to Vietnam BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday it was moving a second oil rig closer to the Vietnamese coast in disputed waters, near where ships from the two countries have been ramming each other in a tense confrontation. Associated Press
Investors Have Reason To Expect A Great 4th Quarter - Ken Fisher, Forbes
Current Econ. Policies Not Working for Americans - Kevin Williamson, NR
The NY Times Gets Real About the Economy - John Crudele, New York Post
Lost Jobs Are Just 'Collateral Damage' to Warmists - Editorial, Investor's
What Are the Feds Hiding About Fannie, Freddie? - Richard Epstein, RCM

[expat_panama]

Stocks ended almost flat Thursday and this mornings futures are too --got a rl prob here but will be back in a bit and after all, nothing bad could possibly happen first thing today, right?

[BipolarBob]

Gold rallied with the market yesterday.
ORCL looks interesting below $40/shr.