AAP Podcast # 53 – Hot PPI Data, Earnings, and Market Seasonality with Bob Lang

We are back with a new AAP Podcast with lead portfolio manager Chris Versace joined by Bob Lang. It’s been a bit since our last podcast with Helene Meisler, and some is catching up to do, but as that is done the conversation quickly shifts gears to the market, the Fed, and the data driving it all. Bob comes out swinging, aiming the Fed’s updated economic projections for being too conservative, especially given the economic data that led the Atlanta Fed’s GDP Model to up its outlook for the September quarter.

That gives way to discussing inflation and wage pressures, something the team is watching closely, as well as the hotter-than-expected September Producer Price Index. The two discuss their concern the market may be too complacent when it comes to the aggregate data of late. It may give rise to yet another market re-think on what the Fed needs to do, and this could come in two different forms. The conversation ends by discussing market seasonality, which Bob sees as being favorable between mid-October and the Thanksgiving holidays, and the September quarter earnings. While discussing recently revised guidance from airline stocks, Levi Strauss (LEVI), and disappointing quarterly results from LVMH Moet Hennessey Louis Vuitton (LVMHF), we also explain why, as an investor, it’s important to know what you own.