Blog

Consumer confidence spread between richest and poorest Americans reaches all-time high October 29, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

The overall consumer confidence index fell from 80.2 to 71.2 in October due mainly to the government shutdown this past month. The consumer confidence survey also takes the temperature of consumers in different income brackets. What caught our eye was the difference in confidence between the richest and poorest Americans.

Denver leads housing recovery according to Case-Shiller Home Price Index October 29, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

Getting timely data on house prices is tricky. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index tracks 20 cities but with a two month time lag. The latest data (August) shows a couple of interesting points emerging about the national housing market.

Construction & Farm Machinery Today’s Weakest Link October 29, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

Cummins is leading the construction and farm machinery stocks down this morning after reporting revenues roughly $100 million under estimates.

4 Stocks to Avoid in Europe October 28, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

Using our relative strength point and figure charts, we are always on the look out for stocks with deteriorating momentum. Through years of managing portfolios, we have learned the hard way that 80% of portfolio problems will come from 20% of the stocks. The following are five stocks to be avoided in Europe right now.

Apple still in “no man’s land” post earnings release October 28, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

Apple’s earnings conference call is going on right now. They reported pretty solid headline numbers ($8.26 EPS vs $7.94 consensus expectations, $37.5 billion in revenues vs $36.9 billion consensus expectations). However, the stock is down about 3% in after-hours trading. Technically, the stock is stuck in ”no man’s land”.

Italian Business Confidence October 28, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

Is today’s positive surprise in Italian Business Confidence (97.3 versus 96.3 expected) foreshadowing a strong rebound in industrial production? We will find out in just a couple of weeks (November 11th).

Fundamental Indicator Disconfirms Last 100 Point Move in S&P 500 October 28, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

We use a very basic fundamental indicator to capture movements in the economy and compare them to stock prices. The fundamental indicator has two, equally weighted, pieces: 1) the CRB Raw Industrial index divided by unemployment claims, and 2) Consumer Comfort index.

Two Things In Favor of Counter-Cyclicals October 28, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

We divide all stocks into two baskets: 1) cyclicals, which includes consumer discretionary, industrials, materials, technology and financials; 2) counter cyclicals, which includes health care, consumer staples, telecom and utilities. Generally the cyclical basket performs best when economic data comes in on the strong side of expectations and stocks have been in a statistical slump.

The most interesting charts from today’s US data releases October 28, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

The Pending Home Sales Index has been running quite a bit hotter than the Existing Home Sales Index since late 2011. This month’s report cooled that trend somewhat. The Pending Home Sales Index surprised on the downside in September. The consensus expectation was for no change month-over-month.

KDDI Gets Clobbered as Nikkei Plunges 2.75% October 25, 2013

By Knowledge Leaders Team in Uncategorized

The Nikkei had the pre-FOMC jitters last night finishing down 2.75% to close at the medium-term rising trendine. KDDI took it on the chin as the worst performing stock on the day, finishing down 5.3% on bets it will loose market share to NTT DoCoMo as the latter ramps up incentives to gain users.

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Companies are selected for “Spotlights” based on high levels of innovation activities in their respective industries and illustrate innovation being employed across all sectors and geographies. Spotlight selection is separate from stock selection by the investment team. Spotlights are not necessarily representative of investment opportunities and can be selected regardless of investment performance or inclusion as a KLC holding.