All Blog Posts (1,487)

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 22, 2009

President Barack Obama's stimulus plan is moving through the House this week, with a second committee likely to approve part of the multibillion dollar package. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee are meting to debate the tax and other provisions of the plan, including a $500-per-worker tax credit that the president has long touted.

The Labor Department reported that initial jobless benefit claims rose to a seasonally adjusted 589,000 in the week ending Jan. 17th, from an… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 22, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 21, 2009

President Obama is hoping to win quick approval of his choice of Timothy Geithner to be Treasury secretary, but first Geithner has to explain how he missed paying $34,000 in payroll taxes earlier in the decade. Obama's team has signaled that it plans to greatly revise that program with the aim of getting more help to homeowners threatened with foreclosures.

The National Association of Home Builders said the home builders' index fell to a record low 8 in January from 9 in December. At… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 21, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 20, 2009

Barack Obama took the presidential oath of office at noon today, becoming the first African-American president of the United States before a massive crowd in the nation's capital and millions of viewers around the world. Obama faces high expectations to deliver a rousing speech as he assumes the U.S. presidency. He is confronting the worst economy in at least a generation, marked by massive job losses and a financial crisis that brought Wall Street to its knees.

The Bank of Canada… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 20, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 19, 2009

U.S. Stock Markets are closed today in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.

Barack Obama has prepared a "strong message" for banks after he takes over the U.S. presidency tomorrow. Obama's senior adviser David Axelrod said there would be changes in the use of the second half of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) meant to clean out bad assets from the financial system, saying the use of the first half was ineffective and poorly accounted… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 19, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Bye-bye Euro-Zone??

Instability in the Euro-Zone is growing as the global economy comes under further pressure. The E-Z is now comprised of 16 nations, all of whom are governed by separate governments, yet only one central bank. The ECB is in charge of setting monetary policy and this week reduced rates to 2.00%. Meanwhile, each government is trying to figure out their own plan to stimulate the respective economies within the Euro-Zone. With some of these countries much smaller and posing greater investment risk… Continue

Added by Scott Nourse on January 16, 2009 at 1:55pm — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 16, 2009

The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index reading of confidence for January rose to 61.9 from December's 60.1. The index was above economists' expectations of 59.0. The early January reading was the highest since 70.3 in September.

The Labor Department reported that consumer prices dropped by 0.7 percent in December, slightly smaller than the 0.9 percent drop economists expected. For the year, consumer prices edged up by just 0.1 percent, the… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 16, 2009 at 11:29am — No Comments

Hang on, it's a wild ride

I doubt very much I need to point out how volatile the forex market has been since the end of last year. It's as though we haven't pulled out of "holiday trading." Fear not as this market is far too large now to stay this way very long. So, what do we do in the meantime? You have a few options; one of which is NOT quitting! If the volatility is too extreme for you or you've had some losses and lost confidence, DON'T just leave your computer alone for a month and then come back. There's nothing… Continue

Added by Scott Nourse on January 15, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 15, 2009

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the rate-setting Governing Council has no intention of getting stuck in a "liquidity trap." Economists define a liquidity trap as a situation in which short-term interest rates are close to zero but fail to boost the economy. The council voted unanimously to cut the ECB's key rate from 2.5% to 2%, marking a 225 basis point, or 2.25 percentage points, cut in the lending rate since October.

The Labor Department reported that… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 15, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 14, 2009

The Commerce Department reported that retail sales dropped 2.7 percent last month, more than double the 1.2 percent decline that Wall Street expected. The weakness in consumer spending has been a prime contributing factor to the economy's current swoon and analysts say they don't see that turning around soon.

U.S. import and export prices both fell for the fifth consecutive month in December, as costs for oil and many non-petroleum products tumbled. Import prices dropped 4.2 percent… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 14, 2009 at 1:38pm — No Comments

It's the Little Things that Create BIG Savings

It’s the small things that will add up; some obvious things like saving on your electric bill or re-evaluating your other monthly bills. Take a few moments to go over your personal budget and examine all the money going out and all money coming in. A few simple strategies, like using fewer Christmas lights and limit the time they are on during the holidays (See my last blog), reducing unnecessary expenses around the home or office, car pooling to work and less or more creative types of… Continue

Added by James Dicks on January 13, 2009 at 10:55am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 13, 2009

Federal Chairman Bernanke told a London audience that the stimulus package being modeled by President-elect Obama and Congress could provide a "significant boost" to the struggling U.S. economy. But he warned that such a recovery won't last unless other steps are taken to stabilize the shaky financial system. But he said there will be no lasting recovery without further government action and funds to strengthen the financial system. The timing and strength of economic recovery "are highly… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 13, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Next Year I Will Save

Well it's amazing and here is some background. Shortly after Thanksgiving every year my kids, like all others, get excited about the holiday season. One of the things we like to do is ride around the neighborhood and look at the Christmas lights but this year was strange because more than half of the homes that had lights last year didn’t have Christmas lights up. I was wondering why, until yesterday - now I know.

It took two weeks after Christmas for me to figure it out; I guess I… Continue

Added by James Dicks on January 12, 2009 at 11:00am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 12, 2009

The White House said President Bush has asked Congress to release the remaining $350 billion in financial sector rescue funds after receiving a request to do so from President-elect Barack Obama. Congress has 15 days to reject the request. The request would give Obama not only the opportunity to get access to the money, but also to change its goals and conditions.

Facing a litany of economic and financial challenges, departing Wal-Mart (WMT) CEO Lee Scott urged retailers to work with… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 12, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 9, 2009

U.S. employers cut payrolls by 524,000 in December, driving the unemployment rate to its highest level in almost 16 years, suggesting that the year-long recession continued to deepen. The Labor Department said the national unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level since January 1993.

The Commerce Department reported that wholesale inventories dropped 0.6 percent in November while sales were down a record 7.1 percent. Businesses are expected to keep trimming… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 9, 2009 at 10:37am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 8, 2009

President-elect Obama called on Congress to move quickly on his economic aid package once he takes office, warning that a failure to do so would have devastating long-term consequences for the nation. Obama said, "I don't believe it's too late to change course, but it will be if we don't take dramatic action as soon as possible. If nothing is done, this recession could linger for years."

The Bank of England has cut the interest rate to its lowest-ever level cutting it to 1.5%. The… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 8, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

AUD/USD Top?

The pair has hit 5 waves followed with the appropriate Fib extensions. The candlestick patterns at the top are also bearish

Added by David Petrunic on January 7, 2009 at 3:00pm — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 7, 2009

According to the ADP employment index, U.S. private-sector firms dropped 693,000 jobs in December, far worse than expected. Employment in the services sector fell by 473,000, while employment in the goods-producing sectors fell by 220,000.

Congressional estimators are projecting an unparalleled budget deficit of $1.2 trillion for the 2009 budget year. A top congressional aide briefed on the estimate says the Congressional Budget Office also sees a $703 billion deficit for 2010. The… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 7, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Defeating Dyslexia

On my way into work today and I heard a news report where Hollywood actor, Tom Cruise, revealed that the teachings of the Church of Scientology helped him beat dyslexia. Cruise said at the age of seven he was diagnosed as having this language-based learning disability that can include problems in reading, spelling, writing and pronouncing words.

He said, "Nobody gave me a solution and I wanted to know why the system had failed. Finally, as an adult I learned to read perfectly through… Continue

Added by James Dicks on January 6, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments

James Dicks Daily Digest - January 6, 2009

Chain-store sales for the week fell 0.8% from the year-earlier period. On a week-over-week basis, sales rose 1.4%. The International Council of Shopping Centers said, "Bargain shoppers were out in force between Christmas and New Year's” who took advantage of retailers' need to clear out seasonal merchandise. Still, that doesn't help salvage what has turned out to be a weak month.

The ISM non-manufacturing index rose to 40.6% in December from a record low of 37.3% in November.… Continue

Added by Jack Lott on January 6, 2009 at 10:37am — No Comments

Time for a “real” CHANGE

Okay, so we have heard it for a year now, time for change. I got it, really I do; I need change as much as the next person. But I actually mean change this time - real change. Think about it for a moment, the population of this country has careened out of control with our mind set concerning credit. We are a nation of debtors not savers, and now it's time to pay the piper; it's time to repent for our financial sins. We have to take control of our own financial situation and that will mean… Continue

Added by James Dicks on January 5, 2009 at 3:00pm — 1 Comment