US industrial activity dipped last month, falling 0.1% in October vs. forecasts that called for a slight rise. The decline was due mostly to lower ouput in mining and utilities. By contrast, the manufacturing component of industrial production advanced 0.3% in October, a modestly higher pace over September’s 0.1% rise. The fact that growth picked up a bit in the cyclically sensitive manufacturing slice of today’s report suggests that the weaker headline number may be noise in terms of the business cycle implications.
Daily Archives: November 15, 2013
Asset Allocation & Rebalancing Review | 15 Nov 2013
How high will it go? It’s getting harder to ignore the question as the US stock market’s 2013 rally rolls on. As of yesterday’s close, our ETF proxy for US equities (Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI)) is approaching a 29% gain for the year so far, or more than three times higher than the long-run annualized performance record for the asset class. Once again we have a real-world reminder that momentum can’t be denied, at least in the short term. The tricky part, of course, is deciding when positive momentum turns into its darker twin.