I’m back from vacation and just about caught up. I will try to get the Nov newsletter out tomorrow. Vacation was far from restful for my body, as we were hiking in the Rockies between 7,000 and 10,500 feet, sometimes through a foot of snow. But, it was very restful for my soul, which a vacation should be.
Economic news in the U.S. has been better than anticipated the last month and today was no exception. The U.S. market went higher in spite of lower European trading.
European markets were down today over worry about how Italian and Spanish bond yields are rapidly moving up in spite of heavy buying by the European Central Bank (ECB). Ireland, Greece and Portugal all asked for help when yields got above 7%. Italian bonds spiked above that last week, came to the low 6s and are moving up again. Spanish yields are also over 7%.
I am looking for a year-end rally in stocks if news from Italy doesn’t kill it.