S&P 500 FINANCIALS INDEX
| Value 203.44 | Change 0.42 | % Change 0.2% |
MLPs had their breakthrough day. The Alerian MLP Index blasted thru the 252 ceiling that has been in place for over 2 months. The Index went up 3¼ to the 255s. REITs had a good day, the index gained 3. Junk bond funds inched up, reducing their yields a little. This time Treasuries sold off. The yield on the 10-year Treasury bond shot up 8 basis points to 3.26%.
Alerian MLP Index --- 1 month
Dow Jones REIT Index --- 1 month
Oil had another good day with all the sentiment about the economy improving. Meanwhile gold keeps soaring. The chart below shows it's had a very big move in just the last 2 weeks & shows no signs of changing direction. Today it topped 1050!
| CLX09.NYM | ..Crude Oil Nov 09 | ..71.56 | .. 1.99 ......(2.9%) |
| GCV09.CMX | ..Gold Oct 09 | ..1,054.50 | .. 11.20 ......(1.1%) |
GLD (ETF) --- 2 weeks
Treasuries declined. The 30-year bonds fell the most in 2 weeks after the gov’s $12B auction drew weaker-than-average demand. The bid-to-cover ratio was only 2.37X compared with 2.92X last month & an average of 2.42X at the last 10 auctions. The 30-year bond yield rose 9 basis points to 4.09%. An investor class called indirect bidders (including foreign central banks) bought 34.5% of the notes (shown in the graph) down from 46.5% at the last auction & an average of 45.4% at the past 5 auctions. One interpretation is that the bond market is saying the recovery is weak & it will take a long time with this jobless picture.
Investor class - 12 months
Graphs for the unemployment statistics are shown below. The weekly claims have dropped significantly from their highs early in the year, but are still at very troubling levels. The same goes for the number collecting unemployment (over 6M). It's good to keep in mind that some have exhausted benefits or have accepted temp jobs, taking them off the rolls. The unemployment rate at 9.8% gets the most attention & about everybody agrees it will get even uglier next year.
Jobless claims - 52 weeks
Collecting unemployment - 52 weeks
Unemployment rate - 12 months
The knee reaction for Aloca (AA) was favorable last night & early today, but the follow thru was not. AA ended with a 13¢ gain. Dow made its first attempt in 3 weeks to reach a new high & then was turned back. The weak Treasury bond auction today could be a sign of things to come especially if foreigners (i.e. Chinese) are less willing to buy the massive amounts of debt we keep selling almost every week.
Alcoa --- 1 day
Dow Jones Industrials --- 1 month
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