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It's Only Money

By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator

Dallas, TX – It's Friday so "It's Only Money," a review of the big and not-so-big stories of the week. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.

The big question on most investors' minds, "Did I miss the boat?" It's been a three-month rally for the indices. So it's now become a guessing game (or more like a shell) to figure out what's next. Many parts of the market are definitely overvalued. Some analysts care, some don't. We've seen that before. But if one is concerned about overvalue, then one can expect a correction - the market to come down. However, if too many people expect the market to correct, it won't. That's called contrary opinion. When the majority believes one thing, strongly, the market usually reacts the opposite way. And of course once it's obvious the stock market has recovered - past tense. It might be too late. But, too late for whom? The trader who was looking for a quick rise or the long-term investor who doesn't have an ulcer watching the market every day? That's the game.

Now if only the labor market would show some signs of recovery. Unemployment in Texas rose again in May. April gave us this teeny-tiny little ray of hope with lower unemployment. But that was wiped out by the 6.8% figure for May, which was even higher than March. Dallas was up. Fort Worth/Arlington was up. The whole of North Central Texas was up. But the Texas Workforce Commission always seems to come up with a bad case/good case scenario. The Non-Agricultural Employment rose by over 12,000 jobs. That's right - there are more jobs and more unemployed. Once and for all, I just called the Workforce for a definitive explanation. First, these are two totally separate reports and surveys. The only thing they have in common is they're both seasonally adjusted. The addition of new jobs could, and do, come from some employees having more then one job. So though there are more jobs, it might not necessarily mean there are more people employed. And if you can understand anything of what I said today, you probably work for the U.S. government. For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.

 

Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m.

Email Maxine Shapiro about this story.