Thoughts {10.14.15}

A bit rushed these next two days.  April 15 may be the day we all have to file our taxes but October 15 is the final date for folks to put 2014 behind them.  Apparently many people still have work to do in order to put the year to bed.  {That includes me!}

Hillary Clinton is the consensus winner of last night's Democratic debate.  I watched about 20 minutes of it before realizing there wasn't going to be anything of substance discussed.  Hillary read off a checklist of every buzzword that the left wants to hear.  Not one real substantive discussion on bringing jobs to the masses.  Beyond Sanders who's a long shot himself, none of these other gentlemen has a chance of winning.  I didn't even know that Lincoln Chafee was running.

Market has rallied back to resistance and has now stalled exactly where the charts say that should happen.  Clues on the rest of the year will be taken from how stocks react to this resistance levels.  {More on this with a chart soon.}

Quartz.com:  "China's middle class has overtaken the US's to become the world's largest".  

In the "Things Are Getting Better Department"  go read over at Yahoo Finance:  "Car Buying Fuels Bump in September Retail Sales".  From the article:

"Americans increased their spending at auto dealers, restaurants and clothiers in September, but cheaper gasoline prices suppressed overall retail sales growth."

On the face the numbers look a little suspect.  I think that's because the cheap cost of gasoline is likely masking increases in purchases elsewhere.  People can postpone buying cars and clothing.  They also don't go out to eat when times are bad.  One of the reasons I like car sales as an indicator of economic growth is because next to buying a home, a car represents one of the largest cash outlays most folks will normally make.  People don't generally buy new cars when their confidence in the economy is falling.  

I will post tomorrow if I'm not bogged down in October 15 tax work.  If I'm too busy tomorrow then I'll be back Friday.

PS.  Cubs are going on to the National League Championship Series.  Dream season continues!