Sandy?

Sandy?

sandy

 Other than last Thursday’s mini-deluge of economic data, the week’s news was sparse.  Friday was no exception with just one report: Industrial Production.

Economists had expected the report to read 78.4% but it was only 77.8%.  Did economists, analysts, and reporters blame the miss on a weaker Europe (which is in recession), a weaker global economy, or even a weaker US?  No, they immediately blamed it on hurricane Sandy.  Or was it Sandy from Grease?  Nope, it was the hurricane.

Bloomberg said the following once released

Industrial production declined 0.4 percent in October after having increased 0.2 percent in September. Hurricane Sandy, which held down production in the Northeast region at the end of October, is estimated by the Fed to have reduced the rate of change in total output by nearly 1 percentage point. The largest estimated storm-related effects included reductions in the output of utilities, of chemicals, of food, of transportation equipment, and of computers and electronic products.

Market expectations apparently were way off on Sandy impact with the consensus at up 0.2 percent for overall industrial production.

Does this make sense?  Didn’t hurricane Sandy land in the New York region on October 29th, which was the END of the month and therefore should not have affected October data by much at all?  I would expect it to affect November’s data due to the lengthy power outages. 

And one last question/observation: doesn’t this report cover the entire country and not just the New York region?  Something seems odd – like analysts & economists do not want to admit to the slowdown.  Just sayin’.

Trade well and follow the trend, not the so-called “experts.” 

 Behold the age of infinite moral hazard! On April 2nd, 2009 CONgress forced FASB to suspend rule 157 in favor of deceitful accounting for the TBTF banking mafia.

Value Areas:

ES 1357.00 / 1345.00

POC… 1356.00

YM 12548 / 12473

NQ 2532.50 / 2507.00

Best Trades to you,
Larry Levin
Founder & President- Trading Advantage
TradingAdvantageCom