Business

One of the recurring themes as we cross Q1 earnings season, is that virtually every sellside strategist has been repeating ad nauseam how as a result of the shaprly lowered earnings expectations...

... companies will have no problems beating consensus estimates. And then we got something like last week's week's barrage of tech company misses.

For many pundits this apparently did not register and just today BofA said that "1Q EPS expectations have likely bottomed as companies have begun to beat across the board." This is how it explained this observation:

Well that escalated quickly. While Nasdaq had already given up its gains, this morning's economic weakness, Yen strength, and unimpressed oil market has driven the S&P and Dow back into the red from pre-Doha levels...

Following the death of Philly Fed's dead-cat-bounce, Dallas Fed did the same with a disappointing thud back to -13.9 (missing expectations of a rise to -10.0). This is the 16th consecutive month in contraction (below 0) and respondents are increasingly depressed, "it is a bad time for manufacturing, agriculture and mining - the only sectors that actually create wealth." What kind of fiction are these real average joes peddling? Have they not seen the jobs data?

A recession by any other name should smell so bad...

The gold bullion or “hidden gold mine” of various nation’s gold reserves stored in the vaults beneath the Bank of England have been covered by the BBC:

Under London’s streets lies a hidden gold mine.

The cracks are starting to show in the housing 'recovery'. With Starts and Permits already rolling over, New Home Sales printed a disappointing 511k (vs 520k expectations), dropping 1.5% MoM. This is the 3rd monthly decline in a row - the longest such streak since July 2011. While positive for affordability, the decline MoM and YoY in median home prices (-$9,400 and -$5,400 respectively) will do nothing for The Fed's wealth-creation mandate. The West saw New Home Sales plunge 23.6% MoM while The Midwest surged 18.5%.