Even with much of the country on vacation as well as the world, August 2013 was a month with important events occurring.
August 2013 Video by John Kvale
Earning estimates and confessions slow
As we have noted throughout the year analyst estimate have been too high and continue to drop.
The Great GDP Revision
Ed Dolan at Seeking Alpha wrote a nice article about the changing of the GDP calculation. We were somewhat surprised at the easy acceptance of the new data, as we wrote before the adjustments.
Pretty much all you need to know can be inferred by the chart above…yes, the new numbers are better…hmmmmm
Interest Rates continue to march higher
Higher Rates are a headwind to stocks and a downer for the value of bond holdings. August, while a quiet month often, saw rates as low as 2.55% only to see a high of 2.92%…approaching the 3% first digit handle.
Bad month end Economic numbers, one time or trend beginning? New HOmes Sales and Durable Goods
New home sales comments from Econoday released 8-23-13:
“In a report that strongly shakes up the housing outlook, new home sales plunged to a 394,000 annual rate in July vs the Econoday consensus for 487,000 and the Econoday low estimate of 450,000. And there’s more bad news. For a second month in a row, the report includes major downward revisions to the two prior months totaling 62,000 in this report. The 394,000 rate for July is the lowest since October with low double-digit monthly declines hitting three of four regions and a mid-single digit monthly decline hitting the Northeast.”
The following Monday, 8-26-13, durable good orders came in weaker than expected as well. As the chart shows below, this is a volatile metric.
Have a Great Day!
John Kvale
http://www.jkfinancialinc.com http://www.street-cents.com 8222 Douglas Ave # 590 Dallas, TX 75225