Down goes the Dow

agip,

In the foothills tomorrow we start running at 7:00 am and we will see a few people out. I imagine we will finish the run shortly before 9:00 am and their will be good number of people, riding, running, hiking walking dogs. However, you could go to a burger joint that evening and see some folks that need to do some serious push ways from the table. All and all a great place to live and glad we made the choice to move here 20 years ago. But like anything it is a measure of what suits one best. One attraction of NYC for us is the contrast to Idaho.

Igy

I'm pretty sure Ed Whitlock is an alien. I have some family in Toronto, maybe when I go I will try to hook up with him to see if he reflects in a mirror.

It would be fun to do a workout with him, but who knows if he's down with that or not. He's so epic.

Maserati,

Earl Fee is another Canadian, more of a middle distance runner. I had the pleasure of seeing him run 2:48ish 800m at age 80ish. His book on masters track is very good as well.

Orville Atkins, Canadian 5th Boston 1962 2:31:49 is a good friend. In fact he and I room together at Boston in 1974. We ran with Igloi and Joe Douglas of the Santa Monica Track Club at that time. Orville also posts on Let's Run regularly. He has some good stories of running with the Canadian greats of that era.

I also trained with Ergus Lepps Canadian sub-4:00 milers from the period of late 1960s.He had a good sense of humor. One of my friends ran a particularly bad 880 of 2:08. Ergus said "Tom, pretty good 1,000."

I don't know if you saw the video of Cam Levins running a 1:49 half mile in the middle of a high volume week. Like to see him drop some times this year.

Igy

Isn't Earl more about performance in the sack than performance on the track?

Not there yet, but someday I might buy his instruction manual.

Have a good weekend all.

Maserati,

I have no information on that. Talked with him about his book and he seemed a humble fellow. He has some interesting ideas for masters track athletes for example scheduling two hard workouts within a few hours. At my age may make sense considering soreness sets in after several days.

Have a good weekend.

Igy

Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, but baseball and barbecues may have to take a back seat to Fed watching for a while longer for investors who remain preoccupied with the timing of the Federal Reserve's next rate increase.

The nonfarm payrolls report, a closely watched barometer of growth, is likely to provide an important clue given the increasingly hawkish tone of Fed officials with even Chairwoman Janet Yellen embracing the possibility of higher rates.

"Strong jobs data is a sign that the economy is doing better and that the chance of a rate hike is increasing," said Karyn Cavanaugh, senior market strategist at Voya Financial.

That said, economists surveyed by MarketWatch are projecting the economy to have created 158,000 new jobs in May, slightly below the 160,000 reported in April. The Labor Department will release May jobs data on Friday morning.

"We think May payrolls could be weak and if we're right, this would likely spark concern about the domestic outlook and foil the Fed's hopes for a midyear hike," Paul Mortimer-Lee, chief economist for North America at BNP Paribas, said in a note.

Mortimer-Lee expects payrolls to come in around 110,000 in May.

"The Fed thinks first quarter's growth setback was just temporary; payrolls as low as our forecast would seriously challenge that view," he said.

The U.S. economy grew at an 0.8% annualized pace in the first quarter, slowing from a 1.4% expansion in the fourth quarter.

Consumer spending and core inflation data, both due on Tuesday, could also move the stock market if they point to building inflationary pressure, something the Fed won't be able to ignore.

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Ghost of Igloi wrote:

http://www.investorsfriend.com/s-and-p-500-index-valuation/

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idiot investor wrote:That's actually pretty good news. Thanks.

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Yes, an idiot investor would consider the market trading at a ridiculous high valuation as good news.

Reality is a hard truth for some to swallow:

http://www.hussmanfunds.com/wmc/wmc160530.htm

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Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Yes, an idiot investor would consider the market trading at a ridiculous high valuation as good news.

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Idiot,

Expected fair value of S&P 500 mid-point 1,539. It closed Friday at 2,099 where is the good news?

Igy

Well the author said you can expect up to 5%+ annual return on the S&P over the next 20 years. That ain't great but it's better than you've been predicting.

Idiot,

Just in case you missed it, you neglected to mention the ten year return annualized at 1.2%.

Can you take that?

Igy

Apologies to agip for the Zero Hedge article, but I can't source the original WSJ article:

http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/why-management-is-incentivized-to-fabricate-earnings-its-all-about-non-gaap-bonuses/

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Ghost of Igloi wrote:

Idiot,

Just in case you missed it, you neglected to mention the ten year return annualized at 1.2%.

Can you take that?

Igy

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U.S. stock futures on Tuesday pointed to little change at the open, setting the stage for muted market action as investors return from a three-day weekend.

Traders could be avoiding big bets on this month's last trading day, especially given key economic releases are on the schedule later this week.

S&P 500 futures rose by 0.70 point, or less than 0.1%, to 2,098, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 21 points, or 0.1%, to 17,870. Nasdaq-100 futures tacked on 8 points, or 0.8%, to 4,518.

Investors are continuing to digest Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen's remark Friday that an interest-rate rise in the coming months is probably appropriate. They're also bracing for a European Central Bank news conference on Thursday, an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting on Thursday and the monthly U.S. jobs report on Friday.

"This week is packed with events which will keep volatility high," said Naeem Aslam, Think Forex's chief market analyst, in a note.