Monday, November 5, 2018
Daily Writing
10:24 AM
The most palpable tension is stemming from the uncertainty over the outcome of tomorrow’s mid-term elections. The outcome is uncertain.
The price of U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell by more than 6.6% for the week. Oil prices posted their fourth consecutive weekly loss. It is still not entirely clear to me what determines the price of oil. My intuition tells me that oil trading is susceptible to numerous exogenous factors that cannot be predicted by oil traders.
The price of gold continues to hover around the $1200.00/oz level, silver remains bound between $14.00 and $15.00/oz.
On Saturday (11/03/2018), Berkshire Hathaway Inc reported that its operating profit nearly doubled from the year prior due to stronger insurance results and lower taxes. It is reported that Berkshire Hathaway repurchased $1 billion of its own stock in the third quarter of 2018. Net income jumped to $18.5 billion from $4.1 billion just a year ago.
Looking at the bond market: “not one point on the Treasury yield curve is priced to deliver a positive, after-tax, real return when adjusted for the consumer prices you actually pay but that the Bureau of Labor Statistics neglects to incorporate in its carefully curated inflation indices.”[1]
[1] Grant’s, Vol. 36, No. 21, “What Corrections Correct”
Market Data
Commodities & U.S. Treasuries
|
|
November 5, 2018 |
November 2, 2018 |
November 1, 2018 |
October 31, 2018 |
October 30, 2018 |
Gold SPOT |
1232.20 |
1232.55 |
1218.30 |
1215.20 |
1222.90 |
Silver |
14.715 |
14.77 |
14.38 |
14.33 |
14.49 |
Crude(WTI) |
63.49 |
63.34 |
65.16 |
66.35 |
65.64 |
US 10yr |
3.19% |
3.18% |
3.16% |
3.15% |
3.11% |
Major U.S. Indexes
|
|
November 5, 2018 |
November 2, 2018 |
November 1, 2018 |
October 30, 2018 |
October 30, 2018 |
VIX |
20.18 |
19.24 |
20.96 |
22.72 |
24.20 |
DOW |
254.44 |
254.84 |
252.42 |
248.75 |
247.00 |
S&P 500 |
271.89 |
274.75 |
271.64 |
267.77 |
266.23 |
Nasdaq |
7356.99 |
7407.46 |
7332.72 |
7161.65 |
7124.74 |
Currency Cross Rates
|
|
November 5, 2018 |
November 2, 2018 |
November 1, 2018 |
October 31, 2018 |
October 30, 2018 |
USD/JPY |
113.1600 |
113.28 |
112.750 |
113.240 |
112.861 |
EUR/USD |
1.387 |
1.1385 |
1.1405 |
1.1318 |
1.14105 |
AUD/USD |
0.7204 |
0.7193 |
0.7192 |
0.7086 |
0.7114 |
CHF/USD |
1.0044 |
0.9955 |
0.992 |
0.993 |
0.997 |
USD/CNY |
6.9273 |
6.8893 |
6.9346 |
6.9737 |
6.928 |
USD INdeX |
96.45 |
96.53 |
96.41 |
97.13 |
96.79 |
