November 25, 2012, Bob Brinker's Moneytalk: Lynn Jimenez Fill-in

November 25, 2012....Bob Brinker took this Thanksgiving weekend off.  Lynn Jimenez, business reporter for KGO radio (where Moneytalk was canceled), filled in.

Lynn gave an excellent business report at the beginning of the show. Here is a summary of it:

Stock Market....Lynn's comments paraphrased: Last week  was the best of the year. Dow over 13,000 for the first time since November 6th -- up 6 1/2% for year. Nasdaq rose 4% for the week; S&P 500 rose 3.6% to 1409 -- up 12% for year.  Two reasons why the stock market did well: There is hope now that lawmakers will reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff and there was a strong turnout for start of holiday shopping season.....

Stock Market....Lynn said: "Should the budget issues be resolved or seem to be on the path to resolution, the market could see a good year next year. But there is a warning coming out of Standard and Poors from Howard Silverblatt on quarterly profits. The third quarter's profits weren't great....Those targets were lowered, but fourth quarter profit targets have not been lowered. In fact, bottom up operating profits would have to hit  a new record. And profit margins would have to come in at double-digit to hit those goals. So if you're a trader, keep an eye out. If you're an investor, who's done your homework, keep an eye out."

Economy and Jobs.....Lynn said: "It wasn't a bad week at all. Jobless claims fell by 41,000 -- 410,000, the effects of Hurricane Sandy eased some. Before the storm, claims were about 375,000, and that's very modest hiring.  The number of Americans getting unemployment benefits is 3.3 million. Another 2 million getting emergency benefits....so we still have a long way to go."

Leading Economic Indicators....Lynn said: "....came in higher than expected -- up by 2/10 of a percent. And in a measure of just how resilient Americans are, the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index rose a tenth of a percent to 82.7%. That's a five year high....It was a smaller gain than expected, but again, Hurricane Sandy just walloped everybody....And so's is all the talk about the fiscal cliff. So that wasn't bad at all....What's more the Michigan Sentiment Survey found the most favorable outlook for the labor market since 1984. Nearly one in three people expects the jobless rate to fall within the next year."

Housing Market....Lynn said: "Sales of existing homes rose 2% in October even though prices rose by 11% from last October. Mortgage rates certainly have a had in that....They hit record lows again last week. The thirty year fixed at 3.31%; the fifteen year at 2.63%. New home construction climbed to a four year high in October, up 3.6%.  Home builder confidence at its highest level in six years...It seems the housing market, at least, is becoming a bright spot in the economy."

Next Week Economic Estimates: Lynn said: "Later this week, we expect a second look at the economy's growth rate over the summer. The initial estimate that was released last month came in at an anemic 2%. But a lot of economists are now looking at what happened in October and this month and they're predicting a faster rate of growth -- maybe as much as 3%. So the long slow slog out of the hole is proceeding, now it's up to elected leaders to come with a way to slow the growth of the debt, even trim it, while not slowing the economy so much that we fall into a recession again. That's a pretty delicate task and I hope this time around, we have a little bi-partisanship."

Treasuries: Also higher on hope of avoiding fiscal cliff and partly on "the Israeli cease-fire on Wednesday."

Honey EC: Lynn claims she doesn't "talk politics," but that doesn't keep her bias from slipping through. Or maybe she doesn't know that Israel was fired on first and was simply defending itself: Why was there a war in Gaza?

There was little else of value to report from the program today. Lynn's main topics had to do with complaints about Target opening for business Thanksgiving night. Whether or not callers give to charity (especially Hurricane Sandy victims) -- and which charities are the best.

The third-hour guest speaker was: The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use "Plain English" to Rob You Blind

Jeffchristie's Final Exam Question for today:

In a recent comment posted at this Blog a person posting as wjdfp said the following about Bob Brinker:  "I did receive HIS randomly sent fixed income advisor for 10/2012 and find no reason for regular subscribers to purchase this......"

Question: Bob Brinker, the host of Moneytalk and the publisher of Marketimer, also writes and publishes the Brinker Fixed Income letter. 

A) True
B) False 

Answer

San Francisco, Ca. KSFO 560: 1-4pm (KSFO archives Moneytalk Free on Demand for seven days after broadcast. You can download and listen on the go.)  

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