Earnings reports are quite thankfully winding down. Roughly 90% of the S&P 500 member companies have announced results, with a minor few remaining. In general, earnings weakness was once again underestimated by Wal...read more
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Quote of the Day
"We love that Obama is able to flip-flop...We think it’s one of his most redeeming qualities." Art Laffer & Associates Economic Update, 8/5/08.read more
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Oil, Smart Cars, and DaVinci Surgery Video
Oil continues to ease back slightly today, to about $118.50. While we didn't comment on it, yesterday was a very nice move for the markets. Monday's decline in oil left us a bit perplexed as to why consumer discret...read more
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Commodities get Pounded
Commodity and energy related stocks are getting pounded today. We've been writing that the up move in commodities this year is reminiscent of a bubble, not-sustainable, and likely to end badly. Today's swift downwa...read more
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Broadleaf Partners' Economic Update: Oil, Earnings and When to Sell
In today's economic update, Oil, Earnings and When to Sell, we provide our current thoughts on the recent pullback in oil, the reaction of stock prices to this quarter's earnings reports, and the difficult decision...read more
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Lawyers and Paper
According to a study done by Conservatree, Arnold & Palmer and Purdue University and as reported in yesterday's Cleveland Plain Dealer, an average lawyer can use up to 100,000 sheets of paper every year. That's eno...read more
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Strange Lions Filmed on Safarai
This video has nothing to do with the economy or the markets. But you have to admit, it's alot funnier than most blog entries. Love the deer that stands up in the middle and the three monkeys in the background.read more
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Rays of Sunshine?
A stronger durable goods order number this morning and an uptick in consumer confidence suggest that second quarter GDP may be as high as 2-2.5%, a considerable distance from recessionary levels. While the tax reba...read more
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Connie Schultz vs Yours Truly
Over the past few days, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Connie Schultz has spoken harshly of the restaurant industrys' apparent practice of deducting a portion of the credit card transaction processing fee for custome...read more
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Thoughts on Earnings Season
Earnings season is upon us. It is always one of the more stressful periods of time in the business. Not because we don't have a good feel for how our companies are likely to do, but because we don't know what the s...read more
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The Coincidence of sub $130 oil
I find it interesting to note that when regulators decided to abolish the naked short selling rules two days ago on financials these stocks started to tear upwards while at the same time the price of oil began to c...read more
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Oil, Inflation and Wells Fargo
The markets are enjoying a solid rally today, with the S&P 500 and Russell 1000 Growth indices both up more than 1%. Of course, given the volatility of late, this could all change in a matter of seconds or by the t...read more
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Ugly Days, Springboards, and Silver Linings
On July 9th, the S&P 500 declined into official bear market territory, falling by twenty percent from the prior highs achieved in October of 2007. Make no mistake about it, these have been ugly days, perhaps far ug...read more
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Making the Trade, Cooperstown and Broken Foots
The Indians lost their star pitcher, 2007 Cy Young winner CC Sabathia, trading him for four minor league ball players. While this move was widely anticipated over much of the past year, the drama has finally drawn ...read more
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All Hail the Vespa
The market was trounced today and the action was odd. The S&P 500, oil and Research in Motion dominated the headlines as anxiety levels were heightened by price levels that flirted with recent support and resistanc...read more
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American Baseball, American Oil
American Baseball. On Friday, my family and I will be heading to Cooperstown, New York, where my twelve year old son Pete and the Hudson Hurricanes will spend the week playing baseball with some 150 other teams fro...read more
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Personal Reflections on Health Insurance
Since starting Broadleaf Partners three years ago, I have purchased a high-deductible health insurance plan that covers my family of five. My premiums have been running roughly $400 per month, but I also have to co...read more
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The World's Greatest Athlete
Perhaps because of Tiger's outstanding victory under pain earlier in the week, both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have published fascinating articles in recent days on who might be considered the W...read more
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Time to Buy Financials?
Normally, I don't post more than three or four entries per week and almost never post more than a single entry per day. I also usually like to focus on a single subject of conversation in most of our blog entries. ...read more
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Fulcrums and Flashpoints
To a great extent, the market's balance in the shorter term rests on a fulcrum represented by the price of a barrel of oil. If oil prices break out yet again to the upside, it becomes very difficult to envision any...read more
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Classic Rock and The Economy
If you're a middle aged credit manager working for Home Depot, what might be your next career? How about touring as the new lead singer of classic rock group Boston? While it may seem a bit far-fetched, that's exac...read more
