I get quite a kick out of reading the headlines from the schizophrenic financial media. Most days it appears that whoever is assigned to write some of these jewels doesn't have a clue about the stock market or economics. Reading the daily headlines would make one think that we all sit around with bated breath waiting for some slight bit of economic news before placing our hard earned money into the market.
Here are just a few headlines over the last couple of days, with my commentary, that will prove my point that the financial media doesn't have a clue about the economic trends and they're probably better off ignoring. Read on...
August 17th -
STXNEWS LATAM-Mexican stocks rise on US output, inflation data
Oh yea, Mexico is always watching us with bated breath as well. There are plenty of problems in Mexico that probably affect the stock market, I don't think they're sitting around looking at our economic figures for the most part.
Wal-Mart, Home Depot lift retail sector
Great, Wal Mart and Home Depot all of a sudden made all retail stock much more valuable. Just because investors may react to news such as this, it doesn't mean that the retail sector is just like magic, doing better. People have to buy stuff and companies have to earn a profit to make them more valuable.
Stocks gain on Wal-Mart profits, deal talk
Well, well, Wal Mart did better than lift the retail sector, it seems as if their profits boosted the entire stock market. How do you suppose that happened. Has Wal Mart been going to the gym again?
August 18th -
Stock futures gain as Target posts profit
Target is getting in on the action as well. Apparently they now control the futures market.
But just 3 hours later...
Indications: Stock futures flat as bid for Potash goes hostile
What? What happened to Target lifting futures? I guess since it was morning they hadn't fully woken up yet. Maybe they should get a Starbucks in the lobby of more of their stores. A little cup of joe might help futures next time?
Then 3 more hours later...
Indications: Stock futures gain as Target posts profit
Futures have been on a wild ride and it's only 9:30 in the morning. Pay attention to these ridiculous headlines and you won't know whether Target is coming or going. Maybe Target should paint all their stores black as opposed to "being in the red" since they are responsible for all this good economic news.
Retail stocks edge lower; Target, BJ's fall
See the nature of the schizophrenic financial media? Apparently investors didn't pay attention to Target's profits. In a normal world, profits would be good, but when it comes to stocks just flip a coin and you'd probably do better than most financial analysts and reporters.
Corrections: Stock futures gain as Target posts profit
Wait, here we go again. Futures are up once again thanks to the almighty Target.
Stocks Pare Losses; Exxon, Chevron Fall
Oh no, we're falling.
But just 6 minutes later we read this headline:
US STOCKS SNAPSHOT-Wall St gains ground on consumer shares
All is well again.
This compilation is brought to you courtesy of the buffoons at Yahoo Finance. Honestly, if you are an investor, why are you even reading the financial news headlines? As I write this there is about an hour left in the trading day. Have fun!
Investors failed to give the Dow any distinct direction today as the market indicator ended down 1.14, but the real story here is that trading for the 30 industrials was the lowest trading volume of the year. This most likely signals that investors are not at all excited about putting their hard earned money into the market.
Education stocks were big losers today as fears that the government takeover of the student loan programs and tight controls over those that don't come under control of the behemoth of Uncle Sam.
The Dow started off the day in negative territory dropping nearly 125 points almost immediately and then recovered those losses and moved into positive territory for most of the mid afternoon riding low volume. The afternoon rally had exceptionally low volume signaling that not that many individuals were interested in the increase in prices and risking their money.
For candlestick watchers today's flat market is known as a doji pattern that could signal a significant movement in the market in the next couple of days meaning that we could see a large drop very soon...or not. With much of the data coming out about the economy lately such as jobs reports, industrial production, the Baltic Dry Index still quite low, foreclosure rates and housing starts low as well, the economic outlook isn't all that great and investors are worried.
And let's not forget the current administration's unwillingness to even consider the possibility of doing something about the national debt. With Obama trying to spend this country into oblivion and his answer to everything being to thrown tens of billions of dollars at problems in the hopes of buying votes or that unemployment or other issues might simply go away, the looming debt just keeps growing and is a monster that is probably too big to tame at this point. A day of reckoning is coming some day whether we like it or not and it will be a day that will simply won't be able to spend our way out of, although that seems to be what the current president is trying to do.
Maybe the smart thing to do is to buy a few gold coins and stock up on food with what little time we have left before the crash.
So what happened to the Canadian Spy Coin we talked about in our post before the latest one? It doesn’t really spell out in the final report what actually happened, how the coins were discovered, how the item would work, or even which coins they were found in. The government remains solid in their statement that the incidents actually occurred, and that there was a genuine risk for those involved. However, further information was kept secret for security reasons.
This obviously leaves many questions unanswered and a lot of speculation to be had about what exactly happened with these microscopic gadgets. According to the CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service), they knew nothing of these coins until it was brought to their attention by the U.S. Government. They are seeking more information about the incident to ensure everyone’s safety.
If this could happen, outside experts all agree that China, Russia, and France all have espionage operations inside of Canada, and have the right tools and funding to support this technology and type of spying. Coins might not seem like the right place for spying (although this example was quite ingenious), since they can be discarded or spent, but this nonsensical claim appears to be valid.
Unless the technology was super advanced, there isn’t really much proof that a transmitter would have worked past a few feet of distance, so there is still a lot of speculation. So do Canadian spy coins still exist, and if so, who is responsible for them? And why are they? Sadly, because of the classified nature of the incident, we simply may never know unless of course, they turn up again unexpectedly.