Gallup Archives - the patient investor

Barry Ritholz discusses why military conflicts around the globe and civil strife in Ferguson, Missouri have little impact on market performance:

….None of this seems to matter to Mr. Market. He continues to power on, oblivious to issues that don’t affect corporate earnings. They have, by the way, been stellar, growing at a 9 percent annual rate. Meanwhile, interest rates are still low and inflation is subdued.

Rarely have conditions for market gains been so promising at a time when investor psychology has been so negative. Gallup reports that only 7 percent of those surveyed were aware of last year’s scorching [29.7%] gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.

via The Stock Market's Missing Ingredient – Bloomberg View.

The percentage of Americans saying they were cutting back on their spending rose from 66% at the start of the year to 72% in September, where it has stayed for nine straight weeks. Spending, however, was up 5% in September from a year ago…..[it could be] that, more than two years into an anemic economic recovery, Americans are simply settling into a new routine, somewhere in between the forced austerity of the recession and the heady days that came before. Asked by Gallup whether they are watching their spending “very closely,” 88% of Americans said yes. That figure has hardly moved in two years.

via Consumers May Be Spending More, but They’re Not Happy About It – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

Tag: Gallup

The Stock Market’s Missing Ingredient | Bloomberg View

Consumers May Be Spending More, but They’re Not Happy About It – Real Time Economics – WSJ