At the Lake….

I’m on vacation this week, relaxing at Sebago Lake in Maine. It’s beautiful up here, and the people are very friendly.

I’ll continue to post this week, but not as often. Just to follow up from Friday, we had good earnings reports from Wells Fargo ($WFC) and JPMorgan Chase ($JPM). Wells came within three pennies of a new 52-week high, which it had set on Tuesday. Analysts seem very pleased with the earnings reports from both.

Hulu decided to call off its auction of itself, of which DirecTV had been in the running. I’m rather skeptical of how serious DTV was, but now that it’s off the table, I think it’s good news for DTV.

This morning, the retail sales report for June came in a little below expectations. Wall Street was expecting a 0.8% increase while the actual number was 0.4%.

The figures show consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, may take time to accelerate as Americans stay frugal and rebuild savings. At the same time, cheaper borrowing costs, household wealth backed by home and stock prices and an improving job market are helping sustain demand for big-ticket items such as motor vehicles.

“The consumer was less engaged in the second quarter,” said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit. Price is the second-best forecaster of retail sales over the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The numbers are disappointing in comparison to expectations but the overall picture is still encouraging” given job growth and improved household balance sheets, he said.

The futures currently indicate the market will open higher this morning.

Posted by on July 15th, 2013 at 9:25 am


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