Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
The biggest news in the world today didn't actually happen. Conspiracy!
“China Eases Currency Peg,? The Wall Street Journal announced yesterday. The Journal, along with every paper in the world, has something to say about China's groundbreaking move Sunday. At long last, we're told, China has agreed to end its currency manipulation agenda and allow the yuan to float freely.
[Read more...]When it comes to the post-crisis world of American finance, there's one thing we can all agree on:
Something's got to give when it comes to ratings agencies.
Over the past decade, we've all witnessed the “big three's? role in the credit crisis. S&P, Moody's and Fitch gave their famous AAA ratings to an array of troubled securities, companies and nations. Not only did they issue the wrong ratings – and correct those ratings far too late – but their dubious business model was put under the spotlight, too… ripe with conflict of interest and suspicious relationships with their Wall Street clients.
[Read more...]The rate of commercial mortgage delinquencies ballooned more than 25% in the first quarter of 2010.
New numbers from the Mortgage Bankers Association reveal the commercial real estate problem has not gone away…it's just being swept under the rug. Still, this is hard to ignore: 5.7% of loans contained in commercial mortgage-backed securities were at least 30 days in arrears during Q4 2009. And the number exploded to over 7.2% in Q1 2010. That's the blue line in this chart…
[Read more...]At long last, we've figured out how to solve the US debt crisis. Get ready for it…
Weekly emergency legislation.
Ta-da! (Confetti drops, crowd cheers. The band strikes up John Phillip Sousa.)
[Read more...]An investment quiz to begin today's note. Two-part question:
1) Which country has more money to spend than any other?
2) Which nation currently represents the least-attractive investment environment? In other words, where is the one place a true contrarian would love – where no one wants to invest?
“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense,? fellow Baltimorean Tom Clancy once said. The biggest headline in the world today reads like a chapter straight from one of his spy novels:
“U.S. Identifies Vast Riches of Minerals in Afghanistan,? trumpets The New York Times this morning.
[Read more...]Todays a good day for a checkup from Dr. Copper. The useful metal has a Ph.D. in economics, the kitschy saying goes. If the world starts using less — in their homes, their electronics, etc. — a fall in copper demand should precede a global slowdown. Its used in damn near everything, after all. So if prices are down, that has to mean something right?
[Read more...]The Federal Reserve has reopened currency swap lines with the European Central Bank. A quiet footnote to yesterdays EU bailout announcement, the Fed and ECB said without the support of a single voter or representative that they would restart a market manipulation program that ended February 1st, 2010.
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State Government Taxes Get Creative
Municipal governments are finding all sorts of “creative? ways to close budget gaps. You'd do well to pay attention to this trend emerging in a city near you:
- The city of Wichita will soon begin imposing a “false alarm fee,? for which the city government will fine homeowners whose residential security alarms go off accidentally
- The San Francisco legislature has proposed to end its service of euthanizing pets free of charge. The city wants to institute a $25 tax to give your dog or cat the needle, and another $20 charge if you want them to “dispose? of it
- It will now cost Washington, D.C., residents $51 a month to keep the streetlights on at night
- Las Vegas will be taxing amateur sports. City fees will double for all youth an adult sports leagues and summer camps
- Smokers in New York will have to fork over an additional $1.60 per pack, the proceeds of which will flow directly into state coffers
- We've honestly lost track of how many states are imposing new fees and regulations on strip clubs.
[Read more...]