The Daily Dish - January 18, 2012

Coming off the heels of their entry into the K-Cup market, Starbucks has now introduced a new milder blend of coffee that they are calling their “Blonde Roast”. Clearly, this is a play to appeal to more coffee drinkers who don’t care for Starbucks stronger blends. Put another way, they’re going after the Dunkin Donuts coffee drinkers.

I’ve been drinking the new blend for the last three days to try and form an opinion. And got a funny look on Monday when I asked the barista for a “Tall Blonde with a little extra sugar”. The verdict after drinking it all week? It tastes just like a milder, more watered down version of Starbucks other mainstream blends. But that’s not a bad thing. Actually, for someone that likes the extra shot of espresso dumped in to give my day a kick start, the venti Blonde with an extra shot (and a couple creams and sugars) is actually the perfect strength and taste that I’m looking for our of my (initial) morning cup of joe.

I recently started reading “The Hunger Games”. Just like with “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” on TV, and the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” series of books … so many people had implored me to jump on board, I finally succumbed. And also like all the aforementioned others, “The Hunger Games” has been a worthwhile investment of time. I am already absolutely enthralled with this book and would highly encourage everyone to read it.

The premise? In the not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war … and has been replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each year, a lottery must be held in each district, selecting a boy and girl representative between the ages of 12 and 18 from each of them. The 24 chosen children are then forced to fight in a televised gladiator style fight to the death until just one remains, with the winner’s district being lavished with gifts, riches, and food … which is at a premium in this new version of America. The story focuses on a 16 year old girl named Katniss Everdeen, who volunteers to go in the place of her 12-year old younger sister after she is the chosen one from their district.

The book is absolutely compelling. And per my new Amazon Kindle Fire, I am only 13% done with it. After investing a couple hours into it last night, I’ve been thinking about this book all morning.

They’re also making a movie based on the book. It comes out March 23, and stars Jennifer Lawrence, who was the PHENOMENAL (and Oscar nominated) child actress in “The Winter’s Bone” a couple years ago. The film will also star Swerb-heartthrob Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrellson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, and Lenny Kravitz.

Staying on the reading front, I stumbled upon a very cool website fellow readers may enjoy. Its www.goodreads.com and it’s a social media website of sorts for book lovers. You can rate books you’ve read, which then inspires the site to recommend other books you may like based on your tastes. You can create “to-read” lists, which is good for someone like me that can never remember all the different books I want to read. And you can add friends, “like” writers, create a profile, and view a timeline of all that in the same way you would on Facebook.

In playing around on there this past weekend, I spent some time really trying to remember and rate every book I’ve read. My all-time favorites: “The Stand” and “It” (Stephen King), “Watchers”, “Strangers”, and “Phantoms” (Dean Koontz), “Red Storm Rising” and “Rainbow Six” (Tom Clancy), “The DaVinci Code” (Dan Brown), U.S.S. Seawolf (Patrick Robinson), and “Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors” (Piers Paul).

Quote of the Day …

Maverick: What’s your problem, Kazanski?
Iceman: You’re everyone’s problem. That’s because every time you go up in the air, you’re unsafe. I don’t like you because you’re dangerous.
Maverick: That’s right! Ice… man. I am dangerous.

~ Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer as “Maverick” and “Iceman” in the 1986 classic film ‘Top Gun’

Market …

PPI (Producer Price Index) was released this morning. PPI, in a nutshell, is the measure of what it costs producers of goods to make those goods … and it’s viewed as a measure of inflation and a predictor of what we as consumers will end up paying for those goods down the line. It’s sister indicator, CPI (Consumer Price Index) is released tomorrow … and measures exactly what I just mentioned: the cost of goods to people like us. CPI is the main gauge of inflation in America, and today’s release, PPI … is more of a lagging indicator that helps predict CPI totals down the road.

PPI declined by 0.1% last month. Expectations were for it to increase by 0.1%. However, the decline in wholesale prices stemmed entirely from lower energy and food costs. They both fell 0.8%. But “core” wholesale prices (which strip out the volatile food and energy categories) jumped an unexpectedly high 0.3%. Economists were expecting a 0.1% increase. The core index is viewed by the Fed as a more accurate gauge of inflationary pressure. The rise in core prices might cause some angst at the Fed, as core prices have climbed 3.0% over the past 12 months, the largest one-year increase since the summer of 2009. Higher inflation could limit the Fed’s ability to try to further stoke the US economy. Overall wholesale prices have risen an even faster 4.8% in the past 12 months. Not all of that increase, however, has been passed onto consumers. Many companies have absorbed higher wholesale costs and kept price increases in check to maintain market share. Others have accepted lower profits.

End of the day, I am not expecting a violent market reaction either way, as inflation is pretty much a non-worry right now. However, it will put investors on higher alert for tomorrow’s CPI #.

In other economic release news, we get figures on industrial production at 9:15 AM EST this morning. And CPI, jobless claims, and housing starts … ALL released tomorrow morning ay 8:30 AM EST. All three releases have serious market moving potential.

Yesterday we saw the Dow Jones jump 150 points early in trading off of better than expected manufacturing sentiment from the NY Empire State Index, then saw some of those gains trimmed after mixed earning releases from banking giants CitiGroup and Wells Fargo … and also a report from China that indicated that the Chinese economy grew a little less than expected in the 4Q of last year. The Dow ended the day up 60 points and mortgage bonds traded sideways. The 10-year treasury yield is now a ridiculously low 1.85%.

Early in trading this morning, stock futures are mixed and mortgages bonds are trading flat.

News …

~ Bank Earnings Could Set Tone as Markets Watch Europe

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46033616

~ Ohio Savings Receives Unsatisfactory Rating in FDIC CRA Report

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2012/01/ohio_savings_receives_unsatisf.html

~ Mortgage Rates Begin Week Holding Steady at Record Lows

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/243513.aspx

~MBA: Mortgage Applications Surge on Refinance Demand

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mortgage-applications-surge-refinancing-demand-120142863.html

~ US Wholesale Prices Decline in December

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-wholesale-prices-decline-in-december-2012-01-18

~ Fed Officials Open to Additional Easing as They Monitor Risks to the Economy