Balance of Power - DC rises as new Financial Center

There was an intriguing article in the Washington Post this weekend in which Wall Street's major players are very aggressively repositioning its attorney's and in some instances executives all to our nation's capital. JP Morgage Chase, Citibank, BN Mellon and many, many others have taking sizable leases in DC. While it may indeed be a prudent move on behalf of our banking and financial intuitions, I find this troubling for many obvious reasons. Let's just hope these are 4 year lease contracts.


Release Date & Time
Economic Indicator
Consensus Estimate
My Analysis

Mon. Sept. 14
Nothing of importance

Tues. Sept. 15, 8:30 a.m. ET
Aug. Producer Price Index
Core Rate
+0.8% vs. last +2.0%
+0.2% vs. last -0.0%
The Aug. Producer Price Index will probably register only a very slight gain as energy and food prices post significant declines during the month. The modest increase in the core rate of the producer price index shows that inflation pressure at the wholesale level remains exceptionally benign.

Tues. Sept. 15, 8:30 a.m. ET
Aug. Retail Sales
Ex. Auto
+2.0% vs. last -0.1%
+0.4% vs. last -0.6%
The government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program was a big hit. Outside of autos -- sales were modestly higher powered by lackluster “back-to-school” contributions. This data will not likely influence the direction of interest rates or equities one way or the other.

Tues. Sept. 15, 10:00 a.m. ET
July Business Inventories
-0.9% vs. last -1.1%
This stale data will likely have little, if any direct impact on the trend trajectory of market today.

Tues. Sept. 15, 10:00 a.m. ET
Fed Chairman Bernanke speaks in Washington, D.C. This is an encore performance of a speech Mr. Bernanke made at a Federal Reserve event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming back in late August. Market participants will be listening intently to Mr. Bernanke’s presentation to see what he has to say about the tricky task of gradually turning off the tap of the government’s massive economic stimulus initiatives. The Fed Chairman is unlikely to add anything new -- rendering this event meaningless.

Wed. Sept. 16, 8:30 a.m. ET
Aug. Consumer Price Index Core Rate
+0.3% vs. last +0.5%
+0.1% vs. last +0.1%
Assuming the core rate of this index posts a reading of 0.2% or less -- investors will likely give this data little more than a passing glance.

Wed, Sept. 16, 9:15 a.m. ET
Aug. Industrial Production Capacity Utilization
+0.6% vs. last +0.5%
69.0 vs. 68.5
The uptick in both production and capacity utilization is likely to be largely a function of increased auto production and business inventory rebuilding. This data will not likely draw much more than an interested glance from investors.

Thurs. Sept. 17, 8:30 a.m. ET
Initial jobless claims for the week ended 9/12
Up 5,000
There are few who doubt the labor sector’s recuperation will be excruciatingly slow. The anticipated uptick in last week’s jobless claims will probably be largely shrugged off by investors resulting in little, if any change to the current level of equity or bond rates.

Thurs. Sept. 17, 8:30 a.m. ET
Aug. Housing Starts & Building Permits
+3.2%
+0.7%
The modest uptick for both housing starts and building permits will likely draw nothing more than a passing glance from investors.

Fri. Sept. 18