Inflation charted, exposed - it’s not your granddaddy inflation
This week we’ve got some inflation numbers and I invite you to dissect them a little bit.
The GDP price index was reported to be 1.2%, which gave us a very election-friendly 3.3% growth. The personal consumption expenditure came with 2.4% Y/Y inflation attached. And if we dig back into latest CPI report the headline inflation was 5.6% and core inflation 2.5%. So we have 4 different numbers, enough to get confused.
Let's talk about the market, the economy and other light hearted fare. Most political stuff will not make it through our program filters, so you shouldn't waste any effort on it. Unfortunately the quality of our political analysis and opinions is even worse than it is on the markets.
At least we can't lose money on politics... Wait a minute..
During the day of the 28th, the sky was mostly clear across central Arizona. Early indications were that strong to severe thunderstorms were possible that evening, though by mid-afternoon little thunderstorm activity had developed.
Shortly after 8 PM, thunderstorms began to develop east of Phoenix and moved into the potentially very unstable airmass. The thunderstorms themselves provided enough lift to release the stored energy - they took the lid off the pot. In the ensuing four hours severe thunderstorms spread across much of the south central Arizona, including much of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. These were not your typical monsoon thunderstorms. NWS meteorologists noted the exceptionally strong structure of the thunderstorms, with the storms themselves extending up to 60,000 feet in the atmosphere. At this height the temperature of the tops of the thunderstorms was below -110 deg F
Don't look too close... The current Weatha In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them. Johann von Neumann We're all frinkin' doomed The Mogambo Guru In the long run, we're all dead John Maynard Keynes If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal Emma Goldman Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana G. Marx
Just saw a very interesting reportage on german tv about Wal-Mart. Originally it was from "Frontline", thats a magazine on american tv as far as i know. At the end the follwing question was posed to several different people: Did the standard of living in the US go up or down because of Wal-Mart? What do you stoolheimers think?
Interesting was the part about Rubbermaid, which was once a very good company with a very good brand name. Until it made itself too dependend on Wal-Mart.
My family is spending in Wal-Mart about $50/year, in average. The last purchase was a $150 baby-bouncer, made the average for the three years
Inflation charted, exposed - it’s not your granddaddy inflation
This week we’ve got some inflation numbers and I invite you to dissect them a little bit.
The GDP price index was reported to be 1.2%, which gave us a very election-friendly 3.3% growth. The personal consumption expenditure came with 2.4% Y/Y inflation attached. And if we dig back into latest CPI report the headline inflation was 5.6% and core inflation 2.5%. So we have 4 different numbers, enough to get confused.
Someone on IDS today made a comment along the lines of, "so which bank is gonna fail after the close today"
I was gonna vote for INTEGRITY BANK.
From the FDIC -- also note that these guys were one of the banks that was offering CD yields way above everyone else in 2007/2008 _____________________________________
On August 29, 2008, Integrity Bank, Alpharetta, GA was closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named Receiver. No advance notice is given to the public when a financial institution is closed. The FDIC has assembled useful information regarding your relationship with this institution. Besides a checking account, you may have Certificates of Deposit, a car loan, a business checking account, a commercial loan, a Social Security direct deposit, and other relationships with the institution. The FDIC has compiled the following information which should answer many of your questions.
You must be kidding? How did you know about the integrity bank? It's tiny, almost invisible. You really know those banks.
It's been bandied about here that because the 2x ETFs try to mimic twice the return of an underlying index they are bound to lose money - QQQQ goes up 25%and then goes back to where it was (QQQQ 100 - 125 - 100 - (125-100)/125 = 20%). If QID operated as advertised, it would lose 50% (twice 25) and then gain 40% (twice 20%). (100 - 50 - 70). QQQQ round trips, QID off 30%.
But it doesn't work that way. For one thing, if it did, shorting QID would be a sure thing and there are no sure things. For another thing, that isn't what's happened. If you compare QQQQ to QID over 1 2 or 3 years, it's return is pretty close to what they've promised. It's actually much better because QID has a much higher dividend than QQQQ. Of course QID is down over 1, 2 and 3 years.
My neighbor told me about a friend of his who sold his house and rented because he thought house prices were crazy. Sadly, he did that in 2003. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore and bought back in....in 2006.
Which then begs the question .... "So, Doc, have you Zillowed your old house in Florida?"
This could be fun, eventhough it's probably a non-issue. Below is an email I received from Fidelity regarding a $25,000 CD that was supposed to mature today. Just thought I would share given I have never seen a notice like this and also given the current banking debacle. _______________________________________ For account ending xxxx:
Fidelity would like to inform you of an event that has occurred on one of the securities which you hold in your portfolio. The below security was NOT affected by Maturity Cusip: 337629JS9 Description: FIRSTBANK P R Rate: 4.400% Maturity Date: 2008-08-29 Quantity: 25,000.00 Redemption Price: 100.00 Redemption Principal: $25,000.00
Amount Outstanding expressed in ($000s). To discuss your investment or other fixed income opportunities, please visit Fidelity.com, visit your local Investor Center or call 800-544-5372.
