Two Things, Guys

Alright, bring it in, take a knee…two things, guys:

1.  Earnings: They’ve been spectacular – I was looking for a much less exciting season and felt that higher oil prices throughout the entirety of the first quarter would have a dampening effect.    So far corporations seem unfazed as to consumers.  $4+ gasoline simply hasn’t been a factor at all – how else to explain blowout quarters from $AMZN, $LVS etc?  Check out the stealth bull market in hotel stocks via my boy Chess n’ Wine – this could not go on if gas prices were curtailing travel.  They aren’t.

2.  Portuguese bonds are hitting that point of no return in terms of yield.  No one cares but they will care about Spain this summer.  Last night’s downgrade of Spain from Moodys puts it into the B’s for the first time but Fitch and Moodys are still carrying it as an A -something or other.  In other words, plenty of room for more drama.

My daily linkfest for financial advisors is here:  (WSJFA)