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Tag: S&P

  • Isabella Cruise Hides Wedding Ring in First Public Appearance Since Marrying Max Parker

    Isabella Cruise Hides Wedding Ring in First Public Appearance Since Marrying Max Parker

    Isabella Cruise made her first public appearance this week since marrying Max Parker in September. The daughter of Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise attended the “Tyler Shields: Decadence” exhibition at the Maddox Gallery in London on Wednesday.

    Sporting a new ‘do, Isabella Cruise showed off her short platinum hairstyle. Dressed in black, she was stylish, but understated.

    Something Isabella Cruise didn’t show off was her wedding ring. Keeping her hands in her pockets whenever photographers were near, she supposedly didn’t want to draw attention away from the exhibit and in her direction. She apparently feared the sight of her wedding ring might do exactly that.

    Isabella Cruise’s famous father, Tom Cruise, is responsible for planning her secret wedding to Max Parker, but reportedly didn’t attend the nuptials. Nicole Kidman didn’t even learn of the wedding until after it had already taken place.

    Isabella Cruise–along with brother Connor Cruise–don’t have much of a relationship with their mother. This is likely because of their ties to the Church of Scientology. Nicole Kidman is considered an SP–or Suppressive Person–in the eyes of Scientologists, because she left the church when she and Tom Cruise divorced.

    Do you think it was a bit presumptuous of Isabella Cruise to keep her hands in her pockets at the “Tyler Shields: Decadence” exhibit? Are people really that interested in seeing her rings and discussing her secret wedding?

  • Wall Street Ends 5 Day Skid; Stocks are Up

    The stock market saw a surprise surge last Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced that it would continue its bond-buying program. That up-swing did not last long, though; The stocks dipped drastically on Thursday, and Wall Street has seen a losing-streak the previous 5 days.

    There was positive news for Wall Street today, however. The Dow Jones, S&P, and Nasdaq all showed positive gains for the day, with increases of 0.41%, 0.18%, and 0.61% respectively.

    Along with the reviving stocks, the US economy also saw a reviving job market with unemployment reports coming back positive – Initial claims dropped 5,000 to 305,000, with the four-week average of new claims dropping 7,000 to 308,000. These numbers make jobless claims the lowest they have been in 6 years.

    Part of the surge has been caused by two new companies that were recently added to the Dow – Nike, and Visa. Visa was up 1.3%, while Nike closed with gains of 4.1%.

    Investors link the 5 day losing-streak to the fiasco that is currently happening in Washington concerning the looming government shutdown. Part of today’s surge, however, may be due to the air of compromise or negotiation that has rumored to have occurred in D.C. Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee, said that there will be no government shutdown or default. Meanwhile, John Boehner urged the Republicans to be flexible to options that will allow the government to continue to function.

    While the stock market showed signs of improvement today, the closing figures were not spectacular. This has led many, such as Ron Florance, deputy chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank, to conclude that the Federal Reserve was right in continuing its bond-buying program: “It’s fair to say that the Fed got it right by delaying (cuts to the stimulus). Growth is uninteresting and subdued.”

    Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York, believes that this market growth shows, however, that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut back it’s program soon: “If today’s number was a good number, that means when we see the job report on October 4, that number ought to be pretty strong. That’s going to give us another clue as to the underlying strength of the labor market, which was one of the reasons the Federal Reserve chose not to commence the taper.”

    Still, others are worried that the recent rise in stocks is the result of temporary fixes: “Worryingly, it looks like even this relatively modest growth is only being achieved by firms cutting prices,” stated Chris Williamson, the chief economist at Markit.

    Whatever the reason, higher prices in the stock market and lower unemployment rates can only be views as positive for the US. With its credit-rating on the line due to the debt-ceiling crisis and potential default, any inducement for foreign investors to enter into the American market is a good thing.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Stock Market Dips Drastically After Wednesday’s High

    On Wednesday, September 18, the Dow set an all-time high at closing, as did the S&P. The boom came shortly after the Federal Reserve announced that it would continue its economic stimulus program.

    However, the investment-high did not last long. The stock saw itself losing all of its gains from Wednesday on Thursday and Friday. Economic pundits believe the dip in the market is due to uncertainty surrounding the actual strength of the market: “Investors need to take a step back and consider the idea that maybe the U.S economy is on weaker footing than we originally thought,” stated Marc Doss, regional CIO for Wells Fargo.

    Investors were surprised when Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed would continue its $85 billion bond-buying program. All signs pointed to the program being decommissioned this September. However, the Federal Reserve stated that it “decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained” before ending the program.

    The purpose of the Fed’s bond-buyig program is to pump money into the economy to encourage people and banks to borrow and lend more money. Thus, it is a program that would need to be implemented when the market is not at its strongest. Because of its continuance, investors are wary as to current market strength, hence the drop in the stock market after the announcement.

    Companies themselves, however, seem to have much faith in the market. There have been 140 IPO’s added to the market this year, 46% more than 2012. More companies are offering IPO’s because they see promise and stability in the market. While this is generally seen as a positive sign, it does offer more risks to companies and could create a bubble situation of its own – the influx of IPO’s may start a trend which could diminish the quality of offerings and lessen peoples’ investments in said companies.

    The main concern with the Fed’s bond-buying program right now concerns the time-table as to when the Fed will feel ready to end the program:

    “Fed officials have never been able to agree among themselves what exactly would constitute the ‘substantial’ improvement in the labor market outlook that would persuade them to halt the monthly asset purchases. As a result, they have done a very poor job of communicating to the markets how improvements in the labor market should be gauged,” stated Paul Ashworth, chief US economist at Capital Economics.

    There is also the concern that the market growth the US has seen in September is the result of quantitative easing rather than actual company growth. If this is the case, many investors, such as Doug Kass of Seabreeze Partners Management, believe that the Fed has gotten itself in a situation that it can’t escape: “There is no way out for the Fed once it started the process of printing. Getting in was easy. Getting out—not so much. The Fed is trapped and can’t end tapering or else the bond and stock markets will blow up. The longer this continues the bigger the inevitable burst.”

    Then there are the other factors such as potential conflicts in the Middle East, worries over government shutdown, and the question of who will become the next chair of the Federal Reserve. In essence, nothing has changed – no one does not understand economics, and no one ever will.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons