Employment Numbers Disappoint: A Reality Check on Post-2020 Job Rehiring

2024-10-07

This week marks the start of earnings season for Q; the 2024 Election and the next FOMC Meeting also add volatility to markets. Friday’s Jobs report came in stronger than expected (leaving one to wonder what kind of revision to the numbers is to come). Within the report, 700k gubernment workers were added. The S&P on Friday rallied on the employment news, but that also pretty much killed any chance of a 50bps rate cut by the Fed. Markets are now in a consolidation period, setting up for a corrective cycle a head of the 2024 Election. Lance explains the bullish and bearish takes of technical analysis: Knowing when to put capital to work, and when to take it off the table. What will the market do next? Reviewing market psychology: What’s moving prices? When moving averages converge and

2024-10-03

A preview of tomorrow”s employment report an the phenomenon of "labor hoarding;" a weaker jobs report will not necessarily be recessionary. Markest are retesting support, and if it cannot hold, will trigger a sell signal. Lance’s FEMA rant & JOLTS preview w Michael Lebowitz; the labor market is behaving like the housing market: no one is doing anything. What will the Fed do in response to poor jobs numbers? Interestingly, QT is conspicuously absent from latest Fed discussion notes. Market Breadth continues to soar. You can’t make this up: Hurricane (James T.) Kirk: this wlll be comedy gold! Market breadth in an everything market: Too much money chasing too few stocks. lance & Michael discuss the problem of asset selection vs ETF’s.

3:06 – Why a Weaker Jobs Report is Not Recessionary

2024-09-30

The last day of September brings the end of the month, end of the quarter, and a preview of the next round of corporate earnings. So far, no evidence of recession is appearing. Regardless of your investment thesis, money flow still matters most, and there’s lots of money flowing into markets. China is most over-bought in years, thanks to Chinese government stimulus. Earnings outlooks will matter going forward. Oil prices are getting thrashed, with lots of short-selling over the last five weeks. Lance shares dog tales of Gunner & Sniper. With massive money inflows, liquidity is primary market driver. Lance discusses the components of our Greed/Fear Index; markets’ pricing is based on earnings. The two measures of consumer confidence; The Conference Board and U. of Michigan; Consumer