Morning Journal--The big four economic indicators

Economics

This Week’s Data

The Fed released its latest Beige Book; and the results are not unexpected nor different from anything Bernanke has been saying in his congressional testimony: retail spending is disappointing but manufacturing, housing, loan demand and sentiment are improving slowly. No hint of the need for QEIII.

Weekly jobless claims rose 36,000 versus estimates of up 15,000.
http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/07/weekly-initial-unemployment-claims_19.html


Other

This is a must read analysis of the ‘big four’ economic indicators (medium):
http://advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Big-Four-Economic-Indicators.php

Organized financial crime, the new normal? (medium):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-organized-financial-crime-now-new-normal

And the lack of accountability (medium):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-poor-thieves-go-jail-rich-thieves-don%E2%80%99t

Politics

Domestic

Here is reason number one Obama is full of s**t when He says every entrepreneur couldn’t make it on his own without government assistance, i.e. many in fact don’t make it because of burdensome regulations and taxes. Reason # 2. Steve Jobs et al bought all those bridges and roads and paid all those teachers’ salaries with his taxes while the rest of the slubs used them.
http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2012/07/think-of-all-businesses-that-didnt.html

Romney’s biggest shortcoming (medium):
http://www.nationalreview.com/author/56454/latest

International War Against Radical Islam

And then there were four---carriers that is (short):
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/three-us-aircraft-carriers-now-middle-east-fourth-en-route

News on Stocks in Our Portfolios

More earnings per share reports:

Reported Expected

WW Grainger $2.63 $2.62
Qualcomm .85 .86
VF Corp 1.11 .95
Phillip Morris Int’l 1.36 1.35
Sonoco .58 .58
Kinder Morgan Energy Ptrs .37 .47

Kinder Morgan also raised its quarterly cash distribution per share from $1.20 to $1.23.

Steve Cook received his education in investments from Harvard, where he earned an MBA, New York University, where he did post graduate work in economics and financial analysis and the CFA Institute, where he earned the Chartered Financial Analysts designation in 1973. His 40 years of investment experience includes institutional portfolio management at Scudder, Stevens and Clark and Bear Stearns. Steve's goal at Strategic Stock Investments is to help other investors build wealth and benefit from the investing lessons he learned the hard way.