Push And Pull
Despite
the mixed economic news and the overhanging gloom from Enron’s
(
ENE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) pending demise, the Dow,
Nasdaq and S&P
indices are hanging onto early gains. The push and pull came from first the
Durable Goods report, which was better than expected, but the number of folks
seeking unemployment benefits was worse, thus representing the yin and yang of
today’s market. Perhaps the economic report that swayed the balance toward the
bullish side was the new home sales report, which beat Street estimates.
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As
for interest rates, 30-year mortgage rates are back above 7%, their
highest levels since July and .55% higher than the lows hit
Nov. 8 of 6.45%. The rates have jumped so high that while on my Fox television
segment, I cut my
recommendation from a lock’em to hold off, as I feel rates
will eventually creep back below 7%, but probably not back near the lows.
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Lastly,
let us collectively kick the rear end of everyone that is allegedly representing
us in Washington, D.C. I guess the two sides couldn’t agree on which ox would be
gored and by whom, and thus, the stalemate over the stimulus package. Apparently
the recovery in the stock market has members of Congress a little overconfident.
Someone should explain just how tenuous the recovery is. You needn’t look much
further than the most active stock on the NYSE for the past few weeks (Enron) to
see how quickly things can fall apart once things start rolling downhill.
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Personally,
I like the proposal by Senator Pete Domenici, which offers employers and workers
a one-month break from the 6.2% payroll tax that is deducted from paychecks for
Social Security. That would put $43 billion into consumer’s hands just after the
holidays and seems like a fair deal for the little guys as well as the big
corporations. That’s probably why it won’t pass. It just makes too much sense!
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Be
sure to tune in to www.Webfn.com
tonight at 4:30 pm CT for “Doctor J & the
Traders”. My guests will be Tom Haugh CIO of www.ptisecurities.com,
Goran Yordanoff & Greg Temel of www.beyondthebull.com
and Larry Parkhill of Philes Corporation. Our topics tonight include the Enron
debacle, and the recovery and economic stimulus packages. Please join us for the #1
rated streamed show on the web. (Now that Victoria’s Secret went over to the
networks!)