- The Dow has posted four-straight days of gains and sits at a 10-week high, all while Treasurys fall on supply; 2-year auction hits record low yield. “Suddenly, investors live in a perfect world: There’s enough money out there to push the stock market higher and keep bond yields down,” Tom Petruno writes at LA Times’ Money & Co blog. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
- “I really don’t think people appreciate the huge dangers posed by a weak response to 9.5% unemployment, and the highest rate of long-term unemployment ever recorded,” Paul Krugman says. “The point is that while policy makers may think they’re being prudent and appropriately cautious in their responses to unemployment, there’s a good chance that they’re prudenting and cautiousing us into a long-term jobs catastrophe.”
-After a couple of failed attempts, the S&P 500 has finally broken through its downtrend from the April highs, Bespoke Investment Group points out. “The next level of potential resistance now lies just below the 1130 level, which is where the June rally fizzled as well as the flash crash closing low on May 6.”
- BP’s plans to sell about $30B in assets. “The sales could be the best response possible to the spill’s legacy — as could the company’s debt reduction and increased cashflow,” FT’s Alphaville says. “Well, great — BP is turning into a well-functioning litigation-offset machine. That comes at the expense, though, of knowing how it’s actually going to function in the future as a successful — and safe — oil company.”
- Average age of completed but unsold new homes was 12.4 months at end of June, historically high but well off peak levels hit earlier this year. “Like so much else about this recovery, this is an area where the data says things are improving, but remain at bad levels,” NYT’s Floyd Norris notes.
- The second-half slowdown is here, Calculated Risk writes. “I still think we will avoid a technical double dip recession, but that won’t matter to the people impacted by the slowdown.”
- “Q2 earnings for American companies have been remarkable for how disconnected they seem from from the actual economy,” Joe Weisenthal says at Money Game. “Now it could be that these good earnings will soon translate to hiring, and everything will be great. But watch out if the divergence occurs, because that will mean fresh anger and scorn from politicians, and everyone else.”
- Michael Schuman asks if the euro crisis is really over. “Europe may be able to patch up investor confidence by acting like problems are getting solved without actually solving them,” he says. “But that will only get Europe so far.”
- MarketBeat wonders if gold bugs are in retreat?
- “The Boston Red Sox may have beaten the New York Yankees to the punch to become the first billion-dollar baseball club in history,” Brett Arends writes at MarketWatch.
