Thursday

Living up to predictions, December has just blasted through the calendar.  There has to be some equation that can prove that the faster the time flies, the less gets done.

If you missed the business news yesterday, the Federal Reserve Board announced that they would begin the reduction in their current easy-money program as a result of better news in the general economic climate.  The markets had been anticipating this announcement, and reacted with optimism with the major averages hitting news highs by the end of yesterday's trading.  There had been a lot of angst over the last six months or so as the debate raged on whether "good news" in the economy was "bad news" for traders since the Fed would then be inclined to turn off the printing presses.

This news still doesn't help fixed-income investors much, at least in the short run.  Interest rates remain low, although the 10-year US Treasury rate is creeping closer to 3%.  This increase in that key rate had led to low total returns, even negative returns, for the folks sitting in bond funds.  And these are people who generally are looking at needing income from their investments, not growth.  So there remains a rocky road for them as the cycle inches up the rate ladder.  As an advisor, there's no easy solution to the classic conservative investor who wants a 5% return with no risk.

Speaking of the economy, I actually did a pass-through of Kohl's last night after work to do some recon for my Christmas shopping needs...several days in front of my normal schedule.  Kohl's had followed-up my regular mailing ad, where I had received a 30% off coupon, with a separate post-card restating my 30% off benefit.  My first reaction was that they must have checked on my activity and seen that I had not used the original coupon...so they sent the reminder.  But @srh4 said she had received a similar card for her measly 15% coupon, so it must have been a mass-mailing to all card holders.

Given the revelations of the last year on how merchants track customer data, I'm a bit cynical on the randomness of any of the retail solicitations.  Amazon still sends me camera ads even though its been a year since I last looked at specific equipment.  And the same for new books available by authors that I had bought earlier.


You are never below radar.

Happy Tax-Birthday to 1.02!!  You are Grandson of the Day.   This isn't the best pic, but it captures a lot of the boy in him.  Looking forward to Christmas with him next week.

Lots to do today.  I may add more later.

BCOT