Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
First, the market news.
Yesterday, stocks went up. Gold went up. And bonds went down.
It was a ‘risk on’ day…but not so much of one that you could draw any conclusion from it.
Investors still had the Greek debt crisis on their minds. But they seemed to have gotten tired of worrying about it. All the financial sweepers in Europe are working around the clock, trying to get the mess under the carpet or out the door. By the looks of the markets, they were succeeding.
[Read more...]The mini-rally that began in Europe yesterday, remains in place this morning, with the currencies trading a very tight range all day yesterday. There was one brief bump higher about midday, but that didn’t last long… The reason for the “bump” was news from France that they were all set to roll the maturities of Greek debt… You can only imagine the joke I came up with when hearing that the French were the first to “roll over the maturities”… All in fun, no one was hurt, and no animals were used in the story!
[Read more...]It’s a semi-Risk Off Day today, so far that is… The Greek Confidence Vote went as thought… The budget that included austerity measures was passed, and also as expected, the Greek people protested… Just another day in the Eurozone “South”… One would think that this would be a cause to rally for the euro, being a “relief” and all… But I think that rally was already priced in yesterday, when the single unit rose to 1.44, then fell to 1.4346, and then back to 1.44, and now 1.4375…
[Read more...]Front and center this morning, there are more rumblings from anybody with a “title” in the Eurozone, about Greece… But the euro (EUR) isn’t paying attention, and yesterday, in the face of Greece being told they had to produce a budget full of spending cuts, the euro rallied… And continued that rally overnight. I had a dear reader ask me yesterday why I thought the euro was rallying with the latest news from Greece… I said… “Well, maybe traders are growing tired of all this back and forth with Greece.” Yes, maybe, just maybe, traders have decided to wait until a plan either has been implemented, or not, and deal with the currencies appropriately at that time…
[Read more...]So the shit’s hitting the fan in Greece. Again. There’s a general strike today… the third one in 2011.
Cops in Athens unloaded tear gas on protesters who tried to surround the Parliament building. The vain attempt to keep members from gathering to vote on more “austerity measures” failed. Austerity measures are a condition of the next eurozone bailout.
[Read more...]Yesterday, the Dow continued to fall – down 130 points. Oil slipped lower too. And gold rose. Just as you’d expect. But two days a trend does not make.
And what’s in the news this morning?
“Europe left reeling as the people revolt against austerity measures,” says a headline in the TIMES.
[Read more...]Things were not so spring-like for the euro (EUR), which has drug down all the other currencies, and for once, even the Chinese renminbi (CNY) is weaker this morning! Gold and silver, after spending the day on Friday in complete “rally mode” are weaker this morning, too… So, it’s a dollar rally, and it’s all because of the problems in the Eurozone… Let’s go to the tape!
[Read more...]“The purpose of Newspeak,” George Orwell, wrote in his novel 1984, “was not only to provide a medium of expression for the worldview and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc [Orwell’s name for the ruling regime in 1984], but to make all other modes of thought impossible.”
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Why Greek Austerity Does Not Equal Solvency
My daughter is not Greek…but she sometimes acts like it. This observation is not meant to disparage my daughter…or the Greeks. It is simply an observation.
My daughter, Gaby, often makes promises, just before asking me for money. Yesterday evening, after she dirtied up a frying pan and a few kitchen utensils to make some pasta, I asked her to clean up the mess.
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