- Those of you who had "DOW up 283" in your office pools today win!
- The DOW, SP500 and Nasdaq all up big. A very impressive day for the bulls. The reason? Strong retail numbers? M&A action? Soaring oil prices? Bush's speech on how well things are going in Iraq?
- Don't laugh at the rising oil prices, because the leaders in the market have been oil stocks. Financials have been lagging, but their ramping today (and make up over 20% of the SP500). And the consumer seems alive and well, driving retail stocks. Although, even though retailers are (in general) beating estimates, those estimates were from pessimistic outlooks. Things are better than we thought.
- Go wish Adam Warner happy birthday! On this date in history, 100 AD., Roman dictator Julius Caesar was born. So the big question is whether or not there will be a "Warner's Palace Casino" in Las Vegas 2000 years from now. Or a "Little Warner's Pizza" chain.
- Barry Ritholtz with more thoughts on retail.
- Evidence of a tight labor market in the intial jobless claims numbers. First-time claims for jobless benefits fell last week to the lowest in almost two months, adding to evidence that the labor market is holding up going into the second half of the year. The figures suggest employers are holding on to workers as the rate of unemployment hovers close to its lowest in six years. Strength in the job market, with rising payrolls and income, will help sustain consumer spending even as fuel costs rise and home values decline, economists said.
- In the "keeping secrets from the spouse and then revealing them later" department, calgirlfinance is back blogging and told her husband about the blog.
- Public health announcement: Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than electrifying tunes. A Canadian jogger suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums and a broken jaw when lightning traveled through his music player's wires.
- Sony just cut their Playstation 3 price by $100, and rumors are another price cut is on the way. Nintendo is eating Sony's lunch right now, and maybe Sony realizes that the Playstation 3 better start grabbing some market share soon. I heard a Sony talking head on TV state that the PS3 may have longer shelf life because of the superior technology. But technology is a moving target. Nothing would stop Nintendo from making a new console in a few years with today's (2007) parts at a cheaper cost, too.
- I had NBC's Singing Bee show on in the background the other day. I didn't think it was that great. Very slow. People get buzzed for inserting an extra "well" or "and" in a song lyric. I'm not sure if that kind of entertainment stays "fresh" for very long. I also caught a bit of the the Fox singing show (whatever it's called), and it was okay but no reason to cancel your evening plans. But I did hear The Bangles "Walk Like an Egyptian" twice in one week, and that hasn't happened since the 1980's.
