INSIGHTS
JUL
22
WEEK AHEAD...
The summer trading period has officially begun. With several notable items to digest this past week, nothing seemed to excite investor’s interest and we meekly closed at yet another all-time high on the S&P.
Chairman Bernanke gave some foundation to the market as he again expressed the Fed’s willingness to do what it has to do to help the economy grow and hopefully reduce unemployment. Tech earnings came in on the light side but if you really look at those number s and where they came from, you can’t really fear some sort of major tech slowdown. Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT) are two that reported lighter earnings and forecast some weakness going forward. Not really much of a surprise there. Both companies have been slow to move to the next phase of the tech revolution but they still make a tremendous amount of money. We don’t worry about either of them.
Volatility has abated for the moment and generally, with earnings season in full swing, we expect to see major movements in individual stocks only and the overall market will drift.
The coming week will be centered on earnings and some housing numbers that might give a glimpse into the sector’s strength. Apple (APPL), PepsiCo (PEP), Caterpillar (CAT), and McDonalds (MCD) all report this week and we are pretty sure the focus will be on Apple.
It seems that the US economy revolves around Apple and whatever is good for Apple is good for America. Didn’t we hear that about GM years ago?
While we can appreciate what Apple has created and respect how well managed the company is, we also fear that their string of game-changing products may have reached its end. With any great company they reach a point where they are respected for what they have accomplished but not feared anymore. That may be where Apple is right now. The story isn’t over yet but we do think it is close.
Friday brings Consumer Sentiment and while it doesn’t get the press as other data points, its still remains one of the most important indicators because as we have all heard a thousand times, we are a consumer based economy and when the consumer is comfortable, the markets can relax.
Chairman Bernanke gave some foundation to the market as he again expressed the Fed’s willingness to do what it has to do to help the economy grow and hopefully reduce unemployment. Tech earnings came in on the light side but if you really look at those number s and where they came from, you can’t really fear some sort of major tech slowdown. Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT) are two that reported lighter earnings and forecast some weakness going forward. Not really much of a surprise there. Both companies have been slow to move to the next phase of the tech revolution but they still make a tremendous amount of money. We don’t worry about either of them.
Volatility has abated for the moment and generally, with earnings season in full swing, we expect to see major movements in individual stocks only and the overall market will drift.
The coming week will be centered on earnings and some housing numbers that might give a glimpse into the sector’s strength. Apple (APPL), PepsiCo (PEP), Caterpillar (CAT), and McDonalds (MCD) all report this week and we are pretty sure the focus will be on Apple.
It seems that the US economy revolves around Apple and whatever is good for Apple is good for America. Didn’t we hear that about GM years ago?
While we can appreciate what Apple has created and respect how well managed the company is, we also fear that their string of game-changing products may have reached its end. With any great company they reach a point where they are respected for what they have accomplished but not feared anymore. That may be where Apple is right now. The story isn’t over yet but we do think it is close.
Friday brings Consumer Sentiment and while it doesn’t get the press as other data points, its still remains one of the most important indicators because as we have all heard a thousand times, we are a consumer based economy and when the consumer is comfortable, the markets can relax.