Welcome to the end of the week and another edition of Happy Hour! Just sit back, relax, and enjoy your end of the week roundup of all things interesting in the land of money.
Earnings Season
The third quarter earnings season starts next week. The past three months we’ve seen another Fed QE program, a nice rally in the market and a boost in the housing market.
Yet, the economy has been in slow motion all year. With so many unanswered fiscal questions ahead, now is a great time to hear what companies have to say about the future. What’s the outlook for next year? Any concerns?
These earnings reports and changes in forward guidance numbers should hint at what the CEO’s are thinking.
Proposed Debate Changes
The first of three presidential debates was this week. The question becomes, with a month to go before the elections, did we learn anything?
Something was definitely missing from the debate. We learned that the current debate format is unbearably boring when the two candidates aren’t telling us anything we didn’t already know. So a few minor changes could be made to liven things up:
- It was lacking in drama and suspense. Maybe some sound effects could be added. Like a dun dun dun sound
- Or an awkwardly placed laugh track
- Take a tip from the Oscars’ and cue an orchestra when their time is up
- At least get a moderator who can compete in that type A personality arena
- Adopt the format from ESPN’s Around The Horn…install a mute button and scoring system
- Or make it more like the Gong Show
We need a sense of urgency on this. There’s only two more chances at making a significant change. Or we have to wait four more years for the next round of debates.
Last Call
- U.S. Jobless Rate Declines to 7.8%; 114,000 Jobs Added – Despite the conspiracy theories, this jobs number is good news. But keep in mind it’s only one month. It’s far from 5%.
- What Every Apple Investor Should Know – If you own Apple, should you be concerned? Can it continue to out innovate the competition or is mapgate just the beginning?
- Thanks Fracking: Caterpillar Looking To Switch To Natural Gas – More proof that we’re slowly seeing an energy renaissance in this country thanks to an increase in natural gas and oil production.
- The “Dividend Tax” Cliff Approaches: Implications for Stocks – There’s a lot of math in this one, but it covers a hypothetical explanation of what happens when taxes rise on dividend income.
- Fee Deflation: ETF Costs Dwindle, but Don’t Disappear – Low cost ETFs just got cheaper. This is good news for investors. As less equals more when it comes to investing costs.