It’s a snowstorm in Cleveland this morning. The amount of precipitation we’ve seen in the last 9-10 months is just absolutely ridiculous. It’s almost as if Mother Nature is punishing Cleveland for Jimmy Dimora.
I finished reading “The Hunger Games”. Outstanding book. I’m moving right on to the second book in the series.
And I’m totally confused (and was unaware until mentioning it in the Dish last week) why this book and series is being pigeon-holed into the teen/Twilight/Harry Potter genre. The concept of the book (which is brilliant) is a battle to the death between 24 people in a giant outdoor battleground arena. Where was this kind of entertainment when I was 13? I was collecting baseball cards and playing Super Mario Brothers and The Legend of Zelda.
The movie comes out on March 13 and the trailers look awesome.
The Indians released their 2012 schedule yesterday. They open AT HOME this year on Thursday April 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays at 3:05 PM. Their first six games are at home vs. the Jays and White Sox.
The early season schedule looks easy. Hopefully the Tribe can get off to another good start. Their first 18 games are against teams that had losing records last year and 32 of their first 52 games are at home, which includes three interleague home games against old friend Ozzie Guillen and the revamped Miami Marlins from May 18-20. In other interleague series, the Pirates (includes home game on Fathers Day) and Reds come to town in June, and the Tribe plays at St. Louis, Cincinnati and Houston.
The schedule also features home weekend sets against the Red Sox and Bankees in August. 24 of our final 30 games will be against AL Central foes, including six straight home games to end the season against the Royals and the White Sox.
I was talking about the Indians schedule with my six-year old son last night. Asked him what games he wanted to go see. Immediately he says “I want to see the Indians beat the Yankees.” “Goooooood boy”, I said. Then he asks me “Is Justin Masterson’s name really Justin Masterson?”
Quote of the Day …
“Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason.” ~ Jerry Seinfeld
Market …
Following up Wednesday’s Fed announcement, we had a mixed bag of economic releases yesterday. Durable goods orders came in stronger than expected. First time unemployment claims came in right at expectations. And new home sales in December came in below projections, putting a lid on the slowest year for new home construction since the government started tracking that data.
With some investors taking profits after a run up in the stock market, and with the new home sale data putting a drag on things, the Dow ended the day slightly negative. Mortgage bonds had another positive day. After falling to historically low levels last week, we had seen a little run up in rates late last week and this week.
We could see another down day for stocks today after the release of advanced 4Q GDP this morning, which showed that the economy grew 2.8% in the 4Q of 2011 as compared to the 3.1% growth total economists were expecting.
We also get a consumer confidence reading at 10 AM.
News …
~ US GDP Grows 2.8% in the Fourth Quarter
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-gdp-grows-28-in-fourth-quarter-2012-01-27
~ Apple Overtakes Samsung as World Smartphone King
~ Starbucks Sales Strong, Stock at Record Highs
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/starbucks-rides-strength-of-us-consumers-2012-01-26
~ Ford Earns Huge Profit in 4Q
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-earns-13-62b-profit-123237884.html
~ Romney Assails Gingrich in Florida Debate
~ Geithner Urges Bigger Financial Firewall in Europe
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