Politics:
Its clear that the Democrtas are trying to stir up some Watergate-like scandals before the mid-term elections. The market really didn't care because it didn't look at the potential indictments with as much fan fair as the news media.
The resignation of Ms. Myers didn't take me by surprise. The day she was picked by President Bush, I looked at my wife and said, "they don't really want her. They are going to use her as a lead in to get who they really want. she doesn't stand a chance".
If you stop and think about it, the Myers nomination was brilliant move by the administration. If the Democrats try and railroad the President's next choice, they will look like the bad guys. Face it, they need to pick someone really conservative to offset the ACLU laywer, Ruth Ginsberg.
Here is my latest Investor Alert prediction; The President's poll numbers have bottomed. They will be much higher by the mid term elections.
The Markets:
Dow: Closed at 10,402.77
S&P 500: 1198.41
NASDAQ: 2089.88
I am happy to see the markets reacting as we had expected. While some were calling for the end of the Bull Market, I was convince the market had one more race to run before giving in to what we hope will be the final phase of the Bear in 2006.
It looks as if all the mutual fund selling has finally dried up, and these institutions started putting their money back to work on Friday.We are going to enter the seasonally strong time of year for the stock market.There is a lot of cash on the sidelines, and fund managers cannot beat the market averages by being in cash. Now, through the end of the year should be a lot of fun. Hang on to your hats and enjoy the ride.
MARKET SENTIMENT:
Bull/ Bear Ratio: Bulls: 44.8%, Bears: 29.2%
This is wonderful news for contrarians. Bears hit a high of 30% in May, just before the market reversed and rallied.
Economic Calendar
October 31
- Personal Income, September (08:30): 0.4% expected and -0.1% prior
- Personal Spending, September (08:30): 0.5% expected and -0.5% prior
- Chicago PMI, October (10:00): 57.2 expected and 60.5 prior
November 01
- Auto Sales, October (00:00): 5.4M expected and 5.7M prior
- Truck Sales, October (00:00): 7.0M expected and 7.3M prior
- Construction Spending, September (10:00): 0.6% expected and 0.4% prior
- ISM Index, October (10:00): 57.0 expected and 59.4 prior
- FOMC policy announce, 0 (14:15): Expecting another 25BP hike and no change in the statement.
November 02
- Crude Inventories, 10/28 (10:30): +4.414M prior
November 03
- Productivity-Prelim., Q3 (08:30): 2.3% expected and 1.8% prior
- Initial Jobless Claims, 10/29 (08:30): 328K prior
- Factory Orders, September (10:00): 0.0% expected and 2.5% prior
- ISM Services, October (10:00): 57.0 expected and 53.3 prior
November 04
- Non-farm Payrolls, October (08:30): 125K expected and -35K prior
- Unemployment Rate, October (08:30): 5.1% expected and 5.1% prior
- Hourly Earnings, October (08:30): 0.2% expected and 0.2% prior
- Average Workweek, October (08:30): 33.7 expected and 33.7 prior
