The largest gaming system on earth, earnings data, is being released for second quarter performances and once again analysts seem to be shy of reported results. Hard to believe these guys love being viewed as fools constantly but whip me must be their mantra.
INTC the other day and JPM today, have beat estimates. Now for the tech guys it really does not matter because as we know from stocks such as AAPL, another thirty ways to send your picture and download anything is supposed to be innovation. As for JPM, they are a classic example of how bad things really are when writing down bad debt and implementing weird accounting rules makes you a winner. They even have said they will buy back their own stock, which despite what any bull may tell you, is never bullish.
Now there may be some opportunities out there but think what got us here. Banks and investment firms went after the weakest, yet largest portion of the economy to offer cheap financing in order to reap huge transactional profits. Some firms such as Goldman even flipped on their clients by taking the other side of the debt structured products. Legal but not well played.
So the opportunities to create jobs by fostering investments in businesses had already taken a backseat to consumer and mortgage lending because the trade was quick. No one had to sit around waiting to see if the business investment worked, just lend the money and take the fee. Ultimately the debt loads imploded as did the trades connected to them and here we are, left with a soft economy where altered lending standards have dried up potential job creation and any peripheral growth, such as trading, is suffering.
Now there is always China. But you have to have faith that the spin on their story has more sucker time and that the real bad banking in a totalitarian country will not result in a headline one morning which drives the market into new lows.
