How does President Obama's popularity and approval rating compare to past presidents? This chart surprised me a little. It turns-out that the steep decline of his approval ratings is a little unusual, but not unprecedented.
The real issue is whether the Democrats will lose control of the House of Representatives in the next election. Jeff Miller has a good article about that on A Dash of Insight.
Dancing With Obama.
Domestic politics aside, apparently, the President is still pretty popular. While nuclear summits aren't usually a source of humor, the New York Times may have unintentionally struck gold with this time-lapse video. Watch the absurdity of presidential photo-ops as President Obama works the event, shaking one hand after another.
How does President Obama's popularity and approval rating compare to past presidents? This chart surprised me a little. It turns-out that the steep decline of his approval ratings is a little unusual, but not unprecedented.
The real issue is whether the Democrats will lose control of the House of Representatives in the next election. Jeff Miller has a good article about that on A Dash of Insight.
Dancing With Obama.
Domestic politics aside, apparently, the President is still pretty popular. While nuclear summits aren't usually a source of humor, the New York Times may have unintentionally struck gold with this time-lapse video. Watch the absurdity of presidential photo-ops as President Obama works the event, shaking one hand after another.
At the end of the week, the markets were pretty much where they started. So nothing happened, right?
Sometimes weeks like this are important. The Japanese candlestick chart pattern this type of action produces is called a Doji. After a long up-trend, this pattern often marks a turning-point.
Here, there is a Doji resting on the recent up-trend line (drawn with the red arrow) and the support-resistance level (noted with the orange dashed line). This creates an easy decision-zone to watch.
From my perspective, a little pull-back would be welcome here.
Earnings Season Is Here.
During the past few quarters, companies have shown that they can cut-back and save money. Now may be the time investors want to see some sales growth.
The results are not as important to me as the market's response. Are people going to keep buying, or start selling the news? Here are a few items that caught my eye this past week.
JPMorgan Earns $3.3 Billion in 1st Quarter, a 55% increase of Profits. (DealBook)
On a related topic, according to the WSJ, major banks have masked their risk levels in the past five quarters by temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting it to the public. Here is an interactive graphic to illustrate what happened.
More Banks Are Closing.
Also, Regulators shut down eight more banks last week; that makes 50 so far this year. Last year saw 140 bank failures, the highest annual number since the 1992 Savings & Loan crisis. In comparison, only twenty-five banks failed in 2007 or 2008. Another chart to put this in perspective is here.
Expect to
Hear A Lot More About the Need For More Regulation.
At the end of the week, the markets were pretty much where they started. So nothing happened, right?
Sometimes weeks like this are important. The Japanese candlestick chart pattern this type of action produces is called a Doji. After a long up-trend, this pattern often marks a turning-point.
Here, there is a Doji resting on the recent up-trend line (drawn with the red arrow) and the support-resistance level (noted with the orange dashed line). This creates an easy decision-zone to watch.
From my perspective, a little pull-back would be welcome here.
Earnings Season Is Here.
During the past few quarters, companies have shown that they can cut-back and save money. Now may be the time investors want to see some sales growth.
The results are not as important to me as the market's response. Are people going to keep buying, or start selling the news? Here are a few items that caught my eye this past week.
JPMorgan Earns $3.3 Billion in 1st Quarter, a 55% increase of Profits. (DealBook)
On a related topic, according to the WSJ, major banks have masked their risk levels in the past five quarters by temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting it to the public. Here is an interactive graphic to illustrate what happened.
More Banks Are Closing.
Also, Regulators shut down eight more banks last week; that makes 50 so far this year. Last year saw 140 bank failures, the highest annual number since the 1992 Savings & Loan crisis. In comparison, only twenty-five banks failed in 2007 or 2008. Another chart to put this in perspective is here.
Expect to
Hear A Lot More About the Need For More Regulation.
My Internet provider recently doubled the speed of service in our area. Seemingly everyone I tell makes a joke about quicker access to porn. In that spirit, here are two videos poking fun at that.
First, the Onion jokes that Congress passed the Pornographic Media Concealment Act, to hide this generation's porn habit from future generations.
My Internet provider recently doubled the speed of service in our area. Seemingly everyone I tell makes a joke about quicker access to porn. In that spirit, here are two videos poking fun at that.
First, the Onion jokes that Congress passed the Pornographic Media Concealment Act, to hide this generation's porn habit from future generations.
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