<p>Go to the thrift stores in the wealthier areas and you can pick up some very nice clothes.</p>
<p>A rare occurence… Jumbos have lower rates than some conventional mortgages…</p>
<p>[Wealthy</a> Americans Benefit From Banks Hunting Jumbos - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>[Bond</a> Funds Losing $60 Billion Foreshadow Risk of Fed Exit - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>[Gross</a> Caught in TIPS Trap Gundlach Sidestepped in Tumble - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>Risk-parity strategy…</p>
<p>Leveraging bond holdings to equal the risk of stock ownership works well when interest rates decline…</p>
<p><a href=“Barron's | Financial and Investment News”>Barron's | Financial and Investment News;
<p>BCE, it might be worth checking out a couple of different ones. We’ve found one or two that typically have a nice stash of women’s clothing, while others nearby will just be stuff that’s 20 years horribly dated. Another place to look are consignment shops. They’re usually a little more expensive, but they can have some pretty nice things.</p>
<p>Drive down to Natick, I think the clothes go right from the Natick Collection to the thrift shops. There’s three pretty good ones within 10 minutes of the mall.</p>
<p>Natick is more than a 60 minute drive for me. I can’t imagine saving enough money on clothes to make it worth the trip. There are times when time and energy are nicer to have than money. I’m not exactly all that crazy about spending an hour or two shopping for women’s clothes.</p>
<p>Well, I didn’t think that you would come along to help with the shopping.</p>
<p>[Investors</a> flee commodities as Fed signals stimulus end](<a href=“http://news.yahoo.com/investors-flee-commodities-june-fed-160824676.html]Investors”>http://news.yahoo.com/investors-flee-commodities-june-fed-160824676.html)</p>
<p>That is a big drop in money under management. Last I looked, European stock markets are flying as interest rates are supposed to stay low over there for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>And the S&P is up 14.25 right now because?</p>
<p>If the job number isnt horrible, looks like the s&p is going to be up more. </p>
<p>Horrible can also be too large a number.</p>
<p>Drahgi borrowed a page from the Bernanke script:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So either the US futures are following Europe or maybe somebody leaked a good nonfarm number. We will see Friday morning.</p>
<p>How is the smartphone market?</p>
<p>[Samsung</a> Profit Misses Analyst Estimates on S4 Smartphone - Bloomberg](<a href=“Bloomberg - Are you a robot?”>Bloomberg - Are you a robot?)</p>
<p>The number of people that want $650 smartphones is limited. That goes for Apple too. Son bought a $350 smartphone even though he can afford the S4. I’m sure that many others do the same thing. The locked-in ecosystem of the manufacturers and telecoms keep prices high.</p>
<p>If the employment number is hot, more people will start looking which could push the UR higher. I do like to see the details if the report to see under the covers. The delay of the ACA could encourage more hiring but it’s too early to actually see that in the numbers.</p>
<p>Payrolls +195K, previous revised up 70K. The headline number was what I was expecting (190-200 thousand), mostly based on what I’ve been seeing in our daughter’s job hunt. A staffing agency called her this morning trying to get her in for an appointment next week. She was half-asleep taking the call. This student mode of sleeping late and getting up late is annoying to me but she changes her schedule when she’s in school or work mode.</p>
<p>I see we have a little decoupling today.</p>
<p>Bond market is crushed.
Mortgage reits are hit.</p>
<p>Tlt, mub, dx, nly…</p>
<p>“This student mode of sleeping late and getting up late is annoying to me but she changes her schedule when she’s in school or work mode.”</p>
<p>I dont remember this 30 years ago.</p>
<p>Looks like your daughter is going to be employed soon.</p>
<p>Looks like the jobs numbers were too good.</p>
<p>I’ve heard from other parents where kids staying up late and getting up late seems to be fairly normal. It may be a biological thing. I’m doing a lot of hoping but the prospects that keep showing up are definitely encouraging. If companies really do need all of these people, then they are going to have to either drop their standards or do some training.</p>
<p>Hoping is important and it looks realistic in your daughter’s case.</p>
<p>When I read many of the posts in seeking alpha, I see a lot of wishing. Substance can be very weak. That thread that we both posted at the same time has a lot of wishing in it. </p>
<p>The stocks that do well in a declining interest rate environment or a low interest rate environment are not necessarily the stocks that are going to do well if the economy does well. </p>
<p>There were a lot of people in the comments section of that thread saying I am buying nly or stocks like that. Buying opportunity. "Well to those posters I say, “Good luck with that. Interest rates matter.”</p>
<p>The Nexus 4 arrived and I set it up. It is a really nice phone. There are some features on it that I wish my iPhone had. I can’t see spending $600 - $700 on a phone when phones half-the-price have about 80% of the functionality, performance, space, etc. of the high-end phones. No wonder Samsung and HTC are having problems. HTC reported big problems last night too in their mobile products. The telecomms hide the price of the phone with contracts but I think that a lot of people go for the lower-priced stuff. The telecomms are essentially subsidizing phones. You could go to Verizon or AT&T and buy something like a Nexus 4 for $0 or an iPhone for $200. The iPhone probably retails for $700 and the Nexus 4 for $350. So the phone company is eating $150 as the service costs are the same.</p>
<p>Where it helps consumers is in prepaid plans as you buy the phone yourself and just pay for the service - there’s no implicit subsidy that clouds the pricing. I looked at older iPhones - they start at $550 for last year’s model and $450 for the year before that. The older Android models are usually $300 - $400.</p>
<p>I’m sure that my son will be happy with the Nexus 4. It appears that Google had some QC issues last year with these (fragile glass) but they appear to be fixed now.</p>
<p>Daughter has another interview on Tuesday. I showed her an outfit that my manager suggested and she likes the look. I told her that she’d have to do something about shoes too. I don’t know if she has work shoes. I know that she has a lot of sandals and workout shoes.</p>
<p>I’ll be pulling for your daughter.</p>