STOCK MARKET WATCH: Monday, 26 August 2024

[Tansy_Gold]

STOCK MARKET WATCH: Monday, 26 August 2024

Previous SMW:
SMW for 23 August 2024



AT THE CLOSING BELL ON 23 August 2024


Dow Jones 41,175.08 +462.30 (1.14%)
S&P 500 5,634.61 +63.97 (1.15%)
Nasdaq 17,877.79 +258.44 (1.47%)

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Market Conditions During Trading Hours:

Google Finance
MarketWatch
Bloomberg
Stocktwits

(click on links for latest updates)

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Currencies:






(Awaiting new links)


Gold & Silver:

(Awaiting new links)


Petroleum:

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DU Economics Group Contributor Megathreads:

Progree's Economic Statistics (with links!)
mahatmakanejeeves' Rail Safety Megathread
mahatmakanejeeves' Oil Train Safety Megathread

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Quote for the Day:

The student earnestly concerned with the preservation of this music may not know that an unrecorded wealth of it probably still remains unexplored. At the first meeting of the Mountain Folk Festival at Berea, Kentucky, in April, 1935, both Mrs. Campbell and John Jacob Niles, a collector of mountain music, stated that many counties still possess undiscovered resources. In exploring the southwest section of North Carolina, for instance, several new finds were recently recorded, and among comparatively new accessions is a delightful carol which Mr. Niles first heard in the summer of 1933 from an itinerant girl singer on the street in Murphy, North Carolina. The song entitled I Wonder as I Wander is noted here for its archaic beauty:

I wonder as I wander, out under the sky,
How Jesus the Saviour did come for to die,
For poor on'ry [ordinary] people like you and like I . . .
I wonder as I wander, out under the sky.

Allen H. Eaton. Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands. Russell Sage Foundation. © 1937. Reprinted Dover Publications. © 1973.

This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. An announcement, and an explanation

This is the beginning of my last week posting the daily STOCK MARKET WATCH thread.

I don't even know how long I've been doing it. Since before the 💩 administration I'm sure, but how much longer is beyond my recollection . . . and beyond my desire to dig through the DU archives! I think I kept it up during a vacation in 2012 . . . . . . .

Anyway, it's time for a change, for me, for you, for DU, for SMW. I don't know if Hugin, our fearless leader, has someone lined up to take it over, but if you're interested, he's the guy to talk to.

Now, a bit of an explanation at least for the quote included in today's post.

Back in the early 2000s, I did some fairly extensive research into the history of arts and crafts in the US as both economic and political resistance. I had long been an admirer of Englishman William Morris as both an artist and an active socialist, and was specifically looking for similar traits in this country. Long before JD Vance popped up on the scene, I had copies of Allen Eaton's Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands and Jane S. Becker's Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the construction of an American Folk, 1930-1940 and Garry Barker's The Handcraft Revival in Southern Appalachia, 1930-1990, among others. Those three are still on my personal bookshelf.

It's so easy to equate The Markets with The Economy, but for the vast majority of Americans, the stock markets are no more a part of their daily lives than a ticker marquee is a fixture in their living room. Jobs, grocery prices, college tuition, rent, health care, the electric bill: these are the real economy. And for a good portion, if not the majority, of Americans, the economy was -- and perhaps still is -- even smaller than that: How much can they sell a dozen eggs for, rather than how much do eggs cost at Kroger's?

Yesterday I went in search of current information on just how accurate J. D. Vance's take on Appalachia really is, because I haven't read Hillbilly Elegy -- and probably never will. Just one link proved enlightening:

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/18/nx-s1-5065643/appalachian-authors-are-coming-together-to-counter-the-narrative-in-jd-vances-book

CLAYTON KINCADE, BYLINE: Since former President Donald Trump named Vance his running mate last month, copies of "Hillbilly Elegy" have been flying off the shelves in the hundreds of thousands. But Vance and his book have been critiqued since it first published in 2016. Among the critics is Barbara Kingsolver, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Demon Copperhead" and other novels such as "The Poisonwood Bible" and "The Bean Trees."

BARBARA KINGSOLVER: It used the same old victim-blaming trope. I got out of here. I went to Yale. I (laughter) - I disagree, and that's my job, is to tell a different story.

KINCADE: Kingsolver said that with "Demon Copperhead," she wanted to directly address some of the common misconceptions by the media.

KINGSOLVER: They think we're all white, and we're not. I wanted this to be the great Appalachian novel that puts our whole region in a context. We didn't choose to have poverty and low unemployment. We didn't ask for that.

So yes, a now-familiar Christmas carol has its beginnings in Appalachia, a region and a people exploited . . . for profit. Just keep that in mind.

Posting the daily SMW thread has been an honor and a privilege. I hope I've entertained you, maybe given you a chuckle or two, or maybe something to think about. And I'm still here until the end of the week. Labor Day week-end seemed a good time to sign off.

[DemReadingDU]

2. Thank you!

Thank you Tansy for all your dedicated years to the daily Stock Market Watch. Loved all the political cartoons and more recently the quotes you found in your extensive library collection. Yeh, I saved them all!

It has been a long run! I often miss all the regulars that used to frequent this daily thread. Hope all are well and you too. Labor Day is a good time for a change. May the future be kind and healthy for you.

DemReadingDU

[Hugin]

3. I was delighted to hear in...

Candidate Harris’s acceptance speech that she intends to serve even those to whom having “money” is a luxury. No matter where they may live.

She demonstrates with this statement the reality that there are many pockets of “Appalachia” all through this land and what they need is opportunity and respect.

A striking difference from those such as Trump and the Broliarchs, who just want to make it illegal to be poor and send them away… Somewhere. Somehow. We all know how that story ends.

[Tansy_Gold]

4. And Hillary's comment about . . .

". . . the affirmative action of generational wealth."

I think it really says something about our party that so many of our candidates didn't come from generational wealth. Bill Clinton certainly didn't. Barack Obama didn't. Hillary grew up in the same working class Chicago suburb my mom did. (I only lived there until I was 3.) Joe Biden didn't. Tim Walz didn't.

We often look at the stock market as a barometer for retirement funds, especially those 401k accounts that replaced employer-funded pension funds. But how many have had to cash in those 401k's to cover medical bills or loss of job due to COVID or other emergencies? How many have never been able to afford to contribute to a 401k or IRA or any other self-funded "retirement" fund?

I have to say I've learned a lot from posting this thread, and from the research I've done almost every single day for the quotes. It's almost time to dig out another one!

[bucolic_frolic]

5. Thanks for the expertise and effort

I am finding investing in small bits easier than market watching and trading and it is more profitable in the long run, with far less time

My addiction is over!

[Rhiannon12866]

6. Thank you for the explanation, I missed it and have been looking for your daily posts since

I've missed your posts and appreciate your dedication.

[Tansy_Gold]

7. Awww, thank you!

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Just letting you know that your hard work has been appreciated and you're missed!