We broke the six weeks of gains for the S&P 500 stock-index.
You could point to fatigue, poor earnings reports, international tension or a litany of arguments.
It was mostly earnings, as some industrials just didn’t perform as projected.
It didn’t help that Israel was going to retaliate against Iran.
I am sure many wish the election would conclude sooner than later.
I feel the index couldn’t continue to run to the moon without a bit of a lurch.
This week brings earnings reports from the Mag 7. Tesla last week provided sales reports greater than expected, but were a bit short on revenue.
IBM fell far short on earnings and that could not offset the signing of contracts with the government and Apple.
Southwest announced a settlement with the Elliot group replacing some board members and a change with a new CEO.
Pfizer was pushed back as some of its drugs that prospered during the pandemic are not adding to the bottom line.
Previously owned homes sales had the slowest growth since 1995.
That was countered by new home production increasing along with permits drawn for future builds.
Interest rates last week were also a problem as the 10-year started moving back up.
Many are concerned that the Fed will not move much farther south should some of the recent inflation indicators continue to point to inflationary tendencies. That cannot be good for real estate.
Paul Tudor Jones was interviewed on CNBC and made a case for the problem that the deficit will bring in the new year.
He was adamant there was little avoidance of a financial crisis and that commodities were the place to be.
With gold climbing above $2,700 it is obvious that he is not alone.
Moreover, he is one of the most renowned investors of our time.
He is not alone in sounding the alarm for concern over what is to come in 2026.
I was interested in the recent reports of Amazon signing up for nuclear power.
Last week, there were reports that the amount of uranium waste that would have to be disposed of was much larger than from older versions of nuclear plants.
The CPS plant at the coast stores its waste on site and reprocesses the fuel.
These new plants would have to find disposal sites and none have been approved of late.
I wonder how that will sit with the climate-control advocates, much less the environmentalists.
Just saying that fossil fuels are far being gone.
With earnings and various economic reports this week highlighted by the jobs report Friday, we should have plenty of volatility. Did I mention we are a week away from the election.
I’m not sure it will make a difference one way or the other, as it applies to our growing deficit but that is not what people are interested in or passionate about.
I have watched friends’ eyes stare into space when I start to talk about the economy. How soon we forget about 2008.
