Good day. We made it through another Monday without too much damage in the currency markets. You know things are getting pretty rough in the currency markets when we consider an average drop of just over 1% in the currencies “not too bad.” World Markets investors can’t say they weren’t warned we would see some tough times over the first half of the year (see more on this subject in the “Then there was this” section).
[Read more...]Euro Continues to Drop
May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Good day. We made it through another Monday without too much damage in the currency markets. You know things are getting pretty rough in the currency markets when we consider an average drop of just over 1% in the currencies “not too bad.” World Markets investors can’t say they weren’t warned we would see some tough times over the first half of the year (see more on this subject in the “Then there was this” section).
[Read more...]The Suspicious Growth of the Financial Industry
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Societies become more complex as they age. Each challenge…or opportunity…is met with a new rig of some sort. A tax. A regulation. An organizational fix.
As time goes by, these fixes act like friction…they slow the machine. They make it hard to move…inflexible and unresponsive. And over time, more people gain access to a fix — each lobbying group and special interest, each with his own bailout or subsidy…and each desperate to hold onto it.
[Read more...]The Suspicious Growth of the Financial Industry
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Societies become more complex as they age. Each challenge…or opportunity…is met with a new rig of some sort. A tax. A regulation. An organizational fix.
As time goes by, these fixes act like friction…they slow the machine. They make it hard to move…inflexible and unresponsive. And over time, more people gain access to a fix — each lobbying group and special interest, each with his own bailout or subsidy…and each desperate to hold onto it.
[Read more...]A Big Oops at JP Morgan!
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Congratulations, Federal Reserve! Your zero interest rate policy tempted the world’s most-sophisticated bank to create its own toxic blend of interest income in the derivatives markets.
JPMorgan made headlines late last week for a $2 billion trading loss that’s likely to grow over time. Today, the bank’s CIO fell on his sword for the trading gaffe. Ina Drew, a 30-year veteran of the firm decided today was a good day to “retire” from his trading desk.
[Read more...]A Big Oops at JP Morgan!
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Congratulations, Federal Reserve! Your zero interest rate policy tempted the world’s most-sophisticated bank to create its own toxic blend of interest income in the derivatives markets.
JPMorgan made headlines late last week for a $2 billion trading loss that’s likely to grow over time. Today, the bank’s CIO fell on his sword for the trading gaffe. Ina Drew, a 30-year veteran of the firm decided today was a good day to “retire” from his trading desk.
[Read more...]Pound Sterling as a Safe Haven?
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Good day. And welcome to another week. Chuck is headed out to Las Vegas today, to speak at the MoneyShow. With the travel and difference in time zones, he thought it would be best if we picked up the Pfennig for him this week, so I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the currency markets with you this week (hopefully, with a little help from Mike Meyers).
[Read more...]Pound Sterling as a Safe Haven?
May 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Good day. And welcome to another week. Chuck is headed out to Las Vegas today, to speak at the MoneyShow. With the travel and difference in time zones, he thought it would be best if we picked up the Pfennig for him this week, so I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the currency markets with you this week (hopefully, with a little help from Mike Meyers).
[Read more...]
The “Corzine-Dimon Syndrome”
On its best days, the American judicial process is a blindfolded Lady Justice — prosecuting the truly guilty and exonerating the truly innocent. On its worst days, it is a Water Wiggle — whirling around unpredictably, without any apparent connection to guilt, innocence, Constitutionality or the proportionality of alleged crimes to one another.
[Read more...]