Thoughts to Ponder and The Market Update October 3

Thoughts to Ponder . . .

• Always follow your heart, but remember to bring your brain along.
• Maybe if we tell people the brain is an app, they’ll start using it.
• The most important thing in life is not knowing everything, it’s having the phone number of somebody who does!
• Whoever said great things come in small packages hasn’t seen my big screen TV.

And now on to The Market Update . . .

What a difference a week makes.

• With not much news to trade on last week, this week’s news provided many traders the opportunity to ride the investment and stock rollercoaster.
• The stock market, through the first 3 days of trading for the week, was up just over 200 points.
• Thursday the gains were virtually all given back with the Dow’s 195pt loss.

Banking stocks led the way for the market decline.

• The problems exist on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
• Here at home Wells Fargo continues to be ripped apart for their practice of opening fraudulent accounts.
• With each passing day more investigations into their actions are being launched and the lawsuits are starting to pile up.
• On the other side of the pond, the solvency of Deutsche Bank is becoming more and more troubling by the day.
• Combined, these two large entities represent the potential for a major impact to global finances.

New home sales for August came in higher than expected at an annualized rate of 609,000.

• Although this number is higher than forecast, it represents a decline of 7.6 percent from July.
• The positive part of the report is that July was revised upward to show a gain of 13.8 percent from June.

According to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index the price of homes remained virtually unchanged for the month of July.

• This shows stabilization in the market as the prior 3-month’s reports showed declines.
• Home prices compared to the same time last year remain 5.0 percent higher.
• The Pacific Northwest continues to be the strongest real estate market in the country as demand for housing remains very high while inventory is extremely limited.

Heading into the fall and winter months, concerns for housing are growing.

• Existing home sales have not been able to gain ground and Thursday’s pending home sales report indicates that future sales are likely to be weak.
• The latest report on pending sales showed a decline of 2.4 percent for the month of August.
• 3 of the 4 regions showed declines.
• Surprisingly, the Northeast was the only positive region with an increase of 1.3 percent.
• In fact, this region is the only one posting a gain from the same time last year.
• Limited inventory seems to be the culprit as mortgage rates remain very low and the labor department continues to show strength.

This week’s potential market moving reports are:

• Monday October 3^rd – ISM Manufacturing Index and Construction Spending
• Wednesday October 5^th – MBA Mortgage Applications, Factory Orders, and ADP Report
• Thursday October 6^th – First Time Jobless Claims
• Friday October 7^th – National Employment Situation