About that “breather” I mentioned yesterday…
Quarterly Earnings reports are starting to come in from some of the DOW heavy hitters and they are better than expected–some for the first time in a long time. This along with the Producer Price Index (measures inflation at the wholesale level) rising for the first time in three months, and the New York State Empire Index up 3.5 times the expected reading has stimulated a surge in Stocks which has pushed the S&P up to a new all-time intraday high this morning. Traders and analysts alike are already looking forward to February’s Jobs Report (which is still 23 days away) and discounting last Friday’s low job creation index as an anomaly.
So what does that have to do with the new Targa 4 unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show this week? Well, what else are you going to do with your bulging portfolio?
Rising Stocks=Falling Bonds=Interest rates did come back up 1/8% as I unfortunately predicted yesterday: 3.875% for government and 4.5% for Conventional 30 year loans. Fifteen year rates are in the 3.25-3.5% range (APR will be higher, depending on the loan and down payment amounts, and amo–as closing costs and the presence of mortgage insurance affect each loan differently.)
