Business

With Dick's stock crashing after reporting dreadful results this morning, in which both comp sales and EPS missed as the company slashed its full year guidance below even the lowest sellside forecast (it now sees full year EPS of $2.80 to $3.00, below the previous guidance of $3.65 to $3.75 and the Wall Street estimate of $3.62 ), the management team had no reason to hold back on today's earnings call, and luckily - unlike many other retailers who still hold out hope that the worst is behind them - it did not, for an unvarnished look into the retail space.

Authored by Steve H. Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Hanke.

The Grim Reaper has taken his scythe to the Venezuelan bolivar. The death of the bolivar is depicted in the following chart. A bolivar is worthless, and with its collapse, Venezuela is witnessing the world’s worst inflation. 

How expensive are US equities versus their peers around the world? Compared to bonds? Commodities? Are there fundamental risks we can identify?

In the following presentation, Cantillon Consulting's Sean Corrigan answers all of the above and details what opportunities for better asset allocation might lie ahead...

http://player.vimeo.com/video/226011733

Howver, deep in the presentation is an intriguing little chart.

Two weeks ago we reported that July auto sales were a disaster: recall sales for bloated with inventory GM were down 15% YoY, Ford off 7% and Chrysler down 11% - despite record incentive spending - as overall auto sales declined and disappointed for yet another month. And yet, according to this morning's retail sales report from the Census Bureau, sales for "motor vehicle & parts stores" rose much more robustly than anyone had anticipated, rising 1.2%, the fastest pace since December.

It's been a while since we checked in on the state of Manhattan's ultra high end real estate market, and judging by what was said in the latest Starwood Property Trust earnings call, where CEO Barry Sternlicht warned of a doomsday waiting at the end of New York's "Billionaire's Row", what's coming is nothing short of a disaster.