Standard & Poor’s S&P500 Earnings Estimates For 2013 & 2014 – As Of November 14, 2013

As many are aware, Standard & Poor’s publishes earnings estimates for the S&P500.  (My posts concerning their estimates can be found under the S&P500 Earnings tag) For reference purposes, the most current estimates are reflected below, and are as of November 14, 2013: Year 2013 estimates add to the following: -From a “bottom up” perspective, operating earnings of $107.19/share …

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St. Louis Financial Stress Index – November 21, 2013 Update

On March 28, 2011 I wrote a post (“The STLFSI“) about the St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index (STLFSI) which is supposed to measure stress in the financial system.  For reference purposes, the most recent chart is seen below.  This chart was last updated on November 21, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to November 15, …

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Is The Stock Market Experiencing A Bubble?

Recently there have been a variety of discussions as to whether the stock market is experiencing a bubble.  Among the main drivers of such discussion is the stock market’s seemingly near-constant price advancements, frequent record-high closes, and the duration of the advance, all of which are against the backdrop of the (at best) slow-growth economy. …

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Recession Measures – Updated

This post is the latest update to a series of blog posts seen on the CalculatedRisk.com blog.  The original blog post of April 12, 2010, is titled “Recession Measures.” In it, Bill McBride discussed key measures that the NBER uses to determine recoveries, and posted four charts. Here are those charts, updated in his November 17, 2013 post titled …

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Yellen Testimony Concerning Whether Stocks Are Experiencing A Bubble

I found various of Janet Yellen’s comments during her confirmation hearing on Thursday (November 14) to be notable, although I don’t agree with many of them. For reference purposes, here are a few of the comments.  Unfortunately, the official transcript is not yet available.  The following excerpts are from the Wall Street Journal post of …

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Chicago Fed National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI)

Each week I have been posting two charts of the St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index (STLFSI), which is supposed to measure stress in the financial system. Of course, there are a variety of other measures and indices that are supposed to measure financial stress and other related issues, both from the Federal Reserve as well as …

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Recession Probability Models

There are a variety of economic models that are supposed to predict the probabilities of recession. While I don’t agree with the methodologies employed or probabilities of impending economic weakness as depicted by the following two models, I think the results of these models should be monitored. Please note that each of these models is …

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Walmart’s Q3 2014 Results – Comments

I found various notable items in Walmart’s Q3 2014 management call transcript (pdf) dated November 14, 2013.  I view Walmart’s results and comments as particularly noteworthy given their retail prominence and focus on low prices.  I have previously commented on their quarterly conference call comments; these previous posts are found under the “paycheck to paycheck” tag. Here are various excerpts …

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St. Louis Financial Stress Index – November 14, 2013 Update

On March 28, 2011 I wrote a post (“The STLFSI“) about the St. Louis Fed’s Financial Stress Index (STLFSI) which is supposed to measure stress in the financial system.  For reference purposes, the most recent chart is seen below.  This chart was last updated on November 14, incorporating data from December 31,1993 to November 8, …

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