Common Cents Blog
This week, many investors have undoubtedly scratched their heads at the strength of some of the economic data. The most surprising of these were the Philadelphia Fed Business Outlook (Philly Fed) survey and Housing Starts for…
This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released “The Employment Situation – December 2024.” If you have been reading this newsletter over the last 12-months, you know I have been a little perplexed by the…
In one of his last major acts as U.S. President, Joe Biden blocked the sale of U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel today, killing a $14.1 billion deal in the process. In his prepared statement, the President…
One more tumultuous year down, and a yet another to go. If you don’t have at least a smidgeon of trepidation about 2025, you might be a little too optimistic for your own good. My Economic…
This week, the Federal Reserve surprised no one and disappointed everyone when it cut the overnight rate by 25 basis points (0.25%). Investors had fully expected it. They had NOT expected the relatively hawkish tone of…
At 1:00 pm CST on December 18, the Federal Reserve announced the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) had decided to cut the target overnight rate by 25 basis points (0.25%). This will take the upper band…
If nothing else, the events of the last couple of years have taught me that American investors apparently don’t bother to read the headlines any longer. I mean, how else can you explain the stock market’s…
Just about everyone is probably familiar with the movie Field of Dreams. As you know, it is a better-than-average ghost story about a farmer, Ray Kinsella, in Iowa, who builds a baseball field on his farm.…
My first professional employer was a firm in Baltimore by the name of Mercantile Bankshares (MSD&T). In the early to mid-1990s, it was what you might call the “white shoes” bank and trust department in town,…
Last night, I went to Winn-Dixie to get mouthwash and toothpaste. Nothing more. By the time I got to the checkout line, I had a 16-lb. frozen Butterball turkey, 4 boxes of Kraft Velveeta shells &…