1. Foreclosures: The number of foreclosure filings fell 6% in May compared to April but were still at very elevated levels, with 321,489 properties receiving a filing (notice of default or auction). Temporary freezes on foreclosure activity ended in March and the ones in serious trouble have been put back in the hopper. CNBC.com
2. China's May Industrial Production: There were leaks in the Chinese press that China's industrial production rose 8.9% in May and fixed asset investment rose 37%. WSJ.com
3. Stovall Expects Pullback: Sam Stovall, the S & P market strategist, expects about a 15% pullback in the S & P, which would bring the S & P index back to the 800 to 825 level. CNBC.com
4. Bogle: In an earlier post, I mentioned that Bogle recommended that individual investors should never buy an individual bond or stock. Here is a link to the CNBC interview where he made that recommendation. CNBC.com
5. Aluminum & Copper Pricing: Aluminum hit a six month high of $1701 per metric ton. WSJ.com The future's price for copper is hugging the $2.4 level. WSJ.com When I last mentioned copper prices in connection with my lottery ticket purchase of Taseko Mines (TGB) at 80 cents per share in late April, the price was hovering over $2, up from $1.5 when I made my purchase of TGB. MET/NYX?/Copper Prices, Sanofi Upgrade/CB/ TGB closed yesterday at $1.95. TGBWhile Roubini might call the improving prices of base metals a yellow weed, I view it as a hopeful sign, more appropriately characterized as a "green shoot".
6. Before You Become Unhinged About the 10 Year Treasury Yield, Scroll Through the FED Weekly Data for that Security: This is a link to the Federal Reserve's weekly yield data on the 10 year note going back to January 1962. The current yield of 4% is still very low. For the entire 1980s, I did not see a single entry below 7%. www.federalreserve.gov The lowest yield for the entire decade of the 1990s was on 10/9/1999 at 4.41%, which was an aberration for that decade. While I did not do a statistical analysis, rates above 6% on the 10 year were common in the 1990s with a year like 1990 above 8% for the entire year. The first number for the decade below 6% was for the week of 3/5/1993, when the rate hit 5.9%. So, maybe people should not be hyperventilating over a 4% rate. On the other hand, when you look at that kind of historical data, it is hard to make a case to jump in and buy the 10 year at 4%.
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