I’ve been watching markets today and each time one might think we will get a bounce it is short lived–lots of folks wanting to hit the exits today–at least in common stocks.
Let’s face it–no one knows exactly what is sending share prices lower–simply there are folks that want to book some profits after the crazy runup in tech prices. Oh well I am quite sure that the ‘smart folks’ will say it is a buying opportunity–doesn’t matter whether it is or isn’t story is almost always the same. Of course if you follow Harry Dent you are saying ‘I knew it was going to start heading lower’—forget that there are always those folks taking advantage of the sky is following crowd. Forget that they have been wrong for the last 5 years and if you took their advice you now have no money left to invest.
The economic news today is mixed–inflation on target or maybe a 1/10% hot, but 1st time unemployment claims fell to a level seldom seen in recent years a the job market remains pretty decent according to the numbers. Once again we have crosscurrents in the news and there is no certainty as to where we head next.
The 10 year treasury popped higher to the 4.33% area and has since set back to 4.27% as we await the ‘official’ jobs numbers tomorrow. Will they beat estimates? These numbers are a pure guessing game as they are supposed to include the unemployed in Florida and North Carolina because of the hurricanes. The strong ADP numbers yesterday count those unemployed because of the storms as employed if they remained on the company roles so we are talking apples and oranges when comparing the numbers.
Just glancing through the preferreds and baby bonds I see a lot of red, but mostly in the 15-25 cent area–not disasters. The Babcock & Wilcox 7.75% preferred (BW-A) is one issue that is getting spanked–off around $1 and trading at $13.25. BW is another one of the ‘gems’ brought to you by B.Riley.
As I mentioned I am watching–that is about it. I find no compelling reason to do anything at the moment.
