Today's Video Newsletter: Sequestration Showdown Looms Large

Hello traders everywhere! Jeremy Lutz here, with your mid-day market update for Thursday, the 28th of February.

Markets are ending the month of February in an upbeat fashion today, albeit subdued. The Dow Jones industrial average is within striking distance of its all-time record high, despite the prospect of sequestration.

Big-name companies reported higher quarterly earnings, along with some big-time misses today which is leading to a mixed market. We'll take a look at two of the big-time misses, Groupon Inc (GRPN) and JC Penney (JCP).

The government reported that the jobless claims are falling and that the economy is doing better than last year so far in the first quarter. However, Washington's budget battle has cast a shadow over the market, with spending cuts set to automatically kick in Friday and no sign that the two political parties might work out their differences beforehand. Continue reading "Today's Video Newsletter: Sequestration Showdown Looms Large"

Today's Video Newsletter: The housing market continues to shine

Hello traders everywhere! Jeremy Lutz here, with your mid-day market update for Wednesday, the 27th of February.

THE HOUSING MARKET CONTINUES TO SHINE
After yesterday's news that new home sales rose nearly 16 percent in January, The National Association of Realtors (NAR) showed a much bigger than expected increase in its pending home sales index today, which reached its highest level since April of 2010 in January. NAR said its pending home sales index rose by 4.5 percent to 105.9 in January after falling by 1.9 percent to 101.3 in December. Economists had expected the index to increase by 3.0 percent.

What is a pending home sale? A pending home sale is one in which a contract was signed but not yet closed. Normally, it takes four to six weeks to close a contracted sale. Continue reading "Today's Video Newsletter: The housing market continues to shine"