Succinct Summations week ending October 24th Positives: 1. S&P 500 rose ~ 4% for the week — amazingly is now down less than 1% for the month. 2. Initial jobless claims came in slightly higher than expected but the 4-week moving average fell to the lowest levels since 2000. 3. Mortgage refinance applications rose 23.3% w/o/w as 30-year mortgage rates fell to their lowest levels since May 2013. 4. Consumer prices, bot headline and core rose 0.1% vs flat estimates. 5. Existing home sales came in at 5.17mm, the highest since September 2013. 6. New home sales rose to 467k, the most since ’08. 7. Japanese manufacturing PMI ... (full story)