Good News across the board this morning: Initial Jobless Claims are up 68,000 this week; Retail Sales are up 0.7%; Export Prices are up 0.1% and Import Prices are down -0.6%; Global Growth expected at 3.4% for 2014; Foreclosure Inventory is down 15% from last year at this time. They say that sometimes good news is bad news and that seems to be the way that the markets perceive it today. Stocks are down across the board while Bonds are up, but bouncing along a very slippery floor of support like a freshly landed fish looking for a way back down into the water. Make no bones about it, rates are on the rise. The markets have built in a 25% chance of tapering beginning next week at the Fed meeting. I don’t see it happening in spite of today’s rose colored glass outlook.
30 year rates still in the 4-4.5% range.
