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From the BLS : Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 261,000 in October , and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in health care, professional and technical services, and manufacturing. The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for August was revised down by 23,000, from +315,000 to +292,000, and the change for September was revised up by 52,000, from +263,000 to +315,000.
CapWealth went up against an SEC staff of eight attorneys, jury experts and two paralegals, and won a rare victory related to share class disclosure conflicts. “This is David and Goliath,” the firm's co-founder said.
Since it is late on a Friday, I thought I might share some quick thoughts about the week. I have been wondering, more than usual, about the disconnect between what we see in falling prices and the Federal Reserve’s anti-inflation actions. It is difficult to reconcile Fed rhetoric with the actual price of Goods. One can reach only so many conclusions: Perhaps the Fed is right and everybody else is wrong.
Strategy Investing is ultimately based on optimism. (fortunesandfrictions.com) Medical knowledge builds on itself. Financial knowledge not so much. (collabfund.com) Five arguments against a value stock revival. (blog.validea.com) Companies CVS and Walgreen's are likely to walk away from the opioid crisis without admitting culpability. (statnews.com) Men now make up 25% of Lululemon's ($LULU) revenue.
Speaker: Dylan Secrest, Founder of Alamo Innovation and Construction Digital Transformation Consultant
Construction payment workflows are notoriously complex when you consider juggling multiple stakeholders, compliance requirements, and evolving project scopes. Delays in approvals or misaligned data between budgets, lien waivers, and pay applications can grind progress to a halt. The good news? It doesn't have to be this way! Join expert Dylan Secrest to discover how leading contractors are turning payment chaos into clarity using digital workflows, integrated systems, and automation strategies.
Fannie Mae reported that the Single-Family Serious Delinquency decreased to 0.69% in September from 0.72% in August. The serious delinquency rate is down from 1.62% in September 2021. This is close to pre-pandemic levels. These are mortgage loans that are "three monthly payments or more past due or in foreclosure". The Fannie Mae serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 5.59% following the housing bubble and peaked at 3.32% in August 2020 during the pandemic.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the FOMC increased the Fed Funds Rate another 75 bps yesterday, to 3.75-4.0%. Markets have given back much of October’s gains fairly quickly. I have been turning this over slowly in my mind, trying to assess their thinking here. I am not sure what models they use, what data they think is most important, what impact their actions will have, and perhaps most importantly, exactly what they are hoping to accomplish.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the FOMC increased the Fed Funds Rate another 75 bps yesterday, to 3.75-4.0%. Markets have given back much of October’s gains fairly quickly. I have been turning this over slowly in my mind, trying to assess their thinking here. I am not sure what models they use, what data they think is most important, what impact their actions will have, and perhaps most importantly, exactly what they are hoping to accomplish.
Enjoy the current installment of “Weekend Reading For Financial Planners” - this week’s edition kicks off with the news that as part of the ongoing integration between the merged companies, Charles Schwab plans to transition advisors currently on the TD Ameritrade custodial platform to Schwab’s platform over Labor Day weekend 2023.
From the MBA: Mortgage Applications Decrease in Latest MBA Weekly Survey Mortgage applications decreased 0.5 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending October 28, 2022. This week’s results include revised data to reflect an update to last week’s survey results.
Today and tomorrow the Federal Reserve will hold its 7th Federal Open Market Committee meeting of the year. It is given that we will see a 75-basis point increase Wednesday, but what gets said about the meeting on December 13-14 is even more important. The hopes are the Fed indicates a slower pace of rate increases, perhaps as low as 50 basis points in December.
You wouldn’t keep using a 2009 flip phone - so why settle for outdated close processes? It’s time for an upgrade. SkyStem's Guide to Month-End Close Software walks you through what today’s best tools can do (and what your team shouldn’t have to deal with anymore). Get smart, fast, and a whole lot less stressed when it’s time to close the books.
Companies Why is Zuck betting the company on the metaverse? (wsj.com) More tech companies are engaging in layoffs including Lyft ($LYFT). (wsj.com) Finance On the end of the SPAC boom. (morningstar.com) How signaling happens in the options market. (wsj.com) The Ark Venture fund is offering investors access to the private Twitter. (ft.com) Media How Moneyball has ruined baseball, and culture.
Wards Auto released their estimate of light vehicle sales for October. Wards Auto estimates sales of 14.90 million SAAR in October 2022 (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate), up 10.4% from the September sales rate, and up 12.7% from October 2021. Click on graph for larger image. This graph shows light vehicle sales since 2006 from the BEA (blue) and Wards Auto's estimate for October (red).
?. This week, we speak with The Jeremies! Professor Jeremy Siegel at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is frequently voted Best professor at Wharton, and is the author of Stocks for the Long Run , Jeremy Schwartz is CIO at Wisdom Tree Asset Management , where he has worked since May 2005. We discuss how why stocks — and real estate, gold, and bonds — have performed over time.
In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. If you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner—and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top (a concept first popularized by Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There ). What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level.
Morgan Housel Derek Thompson talks with Morgan Housel about what investing is for. (theringer.com) Christine Benz and Jeff Ptak talks with Morgan Housel about money and storytelling. (morningstar.com) Investing Diversification allows you to not have to make big bets. (awealthofcommonsense.com) On the siren's song that is stock picking. (bestinterest.blog) Why banks don't necessarily offer their existing clients the best CD rates.
Realtor.com has monthly and weekly data on the existing home market. Here is their weekly report released today from Chief Economist Danielle Hale: Weekly Housing Trends View — Data Week Ending Oct 29, 2022. Note: They have data on list prices, new listings and more, but this focus is on inventory. • Active inventory continued to grow, increasing 40% above one year ago.
BMW’s image as the “ultimate driving machine” was built atop the sportiness of its high-performance coupe models. The “sharknose” E9 was BMW’s elegant flagship coupe sold in the US from 1968-1975. The E9 used an electronic fuel injection system that was state-of-the-art technology back then (most cars were still using carburetors). 200 HP made the 3.0 CSi really fast (at least for those days).
The most overlooked, yet most critical, element of transformation is preparing people for change. Automation and AI aren't just technical upgrades, they’re cultural shifts which can challenge identities. That’s why change management isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation. In finance, where precision and process rule, navigating change can feel especially disruptive.
Top clicks this week Money market mutual funds may no longer be the best place for short term cash. (wsj.com) Through a statistical quirk, the Fed is causing the inflation it is fighting. (ritholtz.com) Zuck is running Meta ($META) into the ground. (ez.substack.com) Why so few investors utilize managed futures in their portfolios. (blog.validea.com) Why isn't everyone talking more about the increasingly inverted Treasury yield curve?
The headline jobs number in the October employment report was above expectations, and employment for the previous two months was revised up by 29,000, combined. The participation rate decreased, and the unemployment rate increased to 3.7%. Leisure and hospitality gained 35 thousand jobs in October. At the beginning of the pandemic, in March and April of 2020, leisure and hospitality lost 8.2 million jobs, and are now down 1.1 million jobs since February 2020.
My Two-for-Tuesday morning train WFH reads: • Fed Seen Aggressively Hiking to 5%, Triggering Global Recession : Survey of economists sees 75 basis-point hike, then slowing Three-quarters say the Fed will err by doing too much. ( Bloomberg ) see also Cash-Rich Consumers Could Mean Higher Interest Rates for Longer Buoyed by pandemic-fueled savings, consumers and businesses are proving less sensitive to tighter credit—complicating the Fed’s job. ( Wall Street Journal ). • Revenge of the Dow : Chang
Where are top advisors focusing in 2025? AcquireUp’s 2025 Industry Index reveals it all. Based on insights from 200+ financial professionals nationwide, discover why 74% say seminars and referrals deliver the best ROI, how automation is helping advisors scale faster, and why only 8% are tapping into niche marketing (a major growth opportunity!). Whether you're refining your client acquisition strategy or scaling your practice, this report gives you the real-world data, benchmarks, and action ste
I’m not a huge fan of the Federal Reserve’s current policy choices. They obviously had to do something about the persistently high inflation but I think they run the risk of overdoing it. The magnitude of their interest rate hikes increases the risk of something breaking in the financial system. The Fed is in a tough spot because they acted too late but also because they don’t want inflation to get so ba.
From the BLS: Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary The number of job openings increased to 10.7 million on the last business day of September , the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of hires edged down to 6.1 million, while total separations decreased to 5.7 million. Within separations, quits (4.1 million) changed little and layoffs and discharges (1.3 million) edged down. emphasis added The following graph shows job openings (black line), hires (dark blue), Layoff, D
My back-to-work morning train WFH reads: • Is the Stock Market Gaslighting Us? A downturn in the market doesn’t always precede a downturn in the economy. Yes, the stock market is forward-looking, but sometimes it sees things that aren’t there. At its low, the S&P 500 was 25% below its high. It’s hard to completely dismiss this as a leading indicator and I’m not here to do that, but while most drawdowns of this magnitude have led to economic contractions, they haven’t always. ( Irrelevant Inv
Automation generally supercharges any process and brings its value to the forefront. See how infusing automation such as ART (our month-end close solution), into your close can get you to the next level of closing. We will share a live demo of SkyStem's solution, ART and share the key elements of month-end close automation. Through ART, we'll take a look at: What month-end close automation entails Which process steps can and should be automated Benefits of achieving process automation, and Why i
A reader asks: My question is how does asset allocation strategy change with your net worth? For example, should someone of the same age with $10 million in net worth have the same allocation as someone with $1 million? The bulk of my career has been spent working in the institutional investment space — mainly foundations and endowments. These huge pools of capital liked to call themselves “sophisticated” invest.
On Friday at 8:30 AM ET, the BLS will release the employment report for October. The consensus is for 200,000 jobs added, and for the unemployment rate to increase to 3.6%. There were 263,000 jobs added in September, and the unemployment rate was at 3.5%. Click on graph for larger image. • First, as of September there are 514 thousand more jobs than in February 2020 (the month before the pandemic).
Given the difficult market conditions over the past year and increasingly competitive financial planning landscape, 2023 may be the right time to consider building out your firm’s offerings.
Remote finance teams are rewriting how the back-office runs—and attackers are taking notes. Disconnected workflows, process blind spots, and rising cyber threats have become more than just “growing pains”. They’re now liabilities. The challenge isn’t just team distribution, but building resilient systems that protect accuracy, control, and speed across every transaction and touchpoint.
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