On the heels of the US dollar rallying and gold and silver tumbling, look at what else is happening.
October 13 (King World News) – Peter Boockvar: The NFIB small business optimism index for September rose 3.8 points m/o/m to 104. (See chart below).
That is the best since February. Along with this though was their Uncertainty Index which rose to match the highest level since March 2017. I’ve talked about the need to rebuild inventories as a key driver of the improvement in manufacturing and within today’s data, Plan to Increase Inventory jumped 5 points to 11 and that matches the highest since this survey began in 1980. (See chart below).
With this, Plans to Hire rose 2 pts but Positions Not Able To Fill rose 3 pts to the most since February. Another generous extension of unemployment benefits could make it more challenging to fill these spots. To combat that, the Compensation components were both higher…
Billionaire Eric Sprott Buying
To find out which company billionaire Eric Sprott just bought a 12% stake in click here.
Current plans were up by 5 pts to the highest since March and future plans rose by 2 pts. To help offset higher compensation costs, those expecting Higher Selling Prices jumped by 12 pts to 13, the most since January. (See chart below).
Earnings trends improved with a 13 pt gain but still below zero at -12. Capital spending plans rose 2 pts. Those that Expect a Better Economy was up by 8 pts and those that Expect Higher sales by 5 pts. Reflecting the uncertainty, those that said it’s a Good Time to Expand was up just 1 pt to 13. It was at 26 in February.
The NFIB chief economist said “As parts of the country continue to open, small businesses are seeing some improvements in foot traffic and sales. However, some small businesses are still struggling financially to operate at full capacity while navigating state and local regulations and are uncertain about what will happen in the future.” I’ll add to the inventory comment I made, NFIB said “The ratio of inventories to sales in retailing is at a record low level, spurring more production and imports to fill the gap.”
Norway Living Dangerously
King World News note: Norway is going “all-in” with its central bank balance sheet (see chart below).
What A Wild Ride!
King World News note: Finally, look at the wild ride that just took place in the lumber futures market (see chart below).
GOLD: Michael Oliver MSA audio interview released!
A Lot Of Indicators (In The Gold Market) Flipped To Buy Signals
***ALSO JUST RELEASED: One Of The Greats In The Business Just Said, “A Lot Of Indicators (In The Gold Market) Flipped To Buy Signals” CLICK HERE.
***KWN has now released this timely and powerful audio interview with Michael Oliver and you can listen to it by CLICKING HERE OR ON THE IMAGE BELOW.
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