What looked like a workable situation for Greece and private creditors has taken a turn that has the euro (EUR) vulnerable again this morning. It’s not as if the situation is unworkable. It’s just that they are struggling to come to an agreement, and since it’s not as smooth as Jiffy, then the Chicken Littles come out of the crowds… But then, quite frankly, I have been surprised by the strength the euro has displayed this week. The euro has always shown resiliency, but as I’ve said a couple of times now this year… I wouldn’t be surprised to see it fall to 1.18 and then rebound to 1.40… But we have 49 more weeks to go in 2012. There’s a lot of give and take here, so buckle up, yes, that’s right: Click it or ticket…
[Read more...]Euro Reverses Slide in Short Squeeze
January 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The Jobs Jamboree on Friday proved to be a real boost for the economy and the dollar, which rallied on a “strong jobs number” for the first time in a month of Sundays. I highlight “strong jobs number” because, this is what this has come to… 200,000 jobs were created, so says the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in December, which is the strongest number of jobs created in another month of Sundays… The jobs reports have been so weak for so long now, that the media, and markets are all lathered up and calling this a “strong jobs number”… It’s stronger than previous ones, yes…
[Read more...]Brazil Quietly Scraps its Tax on Foreign Investment
December 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Today is our country’s first day of infamy… Pearl Harbor Day… I hope to visit Pearl Harbor some day, and pay my respects to those American soldiers and sailors who were attacked when we weren’t even at war with the Japanese… A day for us all to stop and think about what happened that day.
[Read more...]China Still Finding Ways to Gain Wider Renminbi Distribution
December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Yesterday, I told you the currencies were range trading, with the euro (EUR) better bid, after Friday’s Jobs Jamboree crock… Well, about mid-morning, we received word that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and French President Sarkozy, had reached an agreement on how to handle rogue Eurozone members going forward. They ironed out a new Eurozone Treaty, which will be presented to the Head of the Eurozone on Wednesday, and then on for a vote on Friday… This news was well received by the markets, and they happily marked up the euro, with the other currencies following along.
[Read more...]Did the Jobless Rate Really Fall?
December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I’ll probably be all alone when I make this statement, but, then I don’t follow the trumpeter anyway… What a crock the Jobs report was last week! When will the major media figure this all out? Probably never, because they don’t have real investigative reporters any longer… But here’s what I’m talking about, folks… The Jobs Jamboree reported that 120,000 jobs were created in November… (The previous month was revised upward from 80,000 to 100,000) So… On the outside, things looked OK… But remember, it takes far more than 120,000 jobs each month to support a strong economy.
[Read more...]Euro Continues to Be Well-Bid Ahead of Summit
October 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The markets are looking for that silver lining in the Eurozone meeting that begins later this morning. The Eurozone leaders are saying all the right things, but saying and doing are two completely different things… The risk of disappointment remains hanging over the euro (EUR), folks… Don’t get all lathered up because the euro is well into the 1.39 handle… Should the Eurozone leaders disappoint this afternoon, and I truly believe they will, the euro will be taken to the woodshed, for all of this rallying in the euro has come about from optimism that the Eurozone leaders will in fact deliver the Eurozone from evil…
[Read more...]Throwing Cold Water on a Hot Market
October 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The G-20 Finance Ministers seem to have come to an agreement on funding for future problems… And an idea to build the fund at the IMF was shot down, which is a good thing, folks…
So, last night, the risk takers decided to take the euro (EUR) higher… When I came in this morning, the euro had reached 1.3914, but has since backed off of that figure… The risk assets got cold water thrown on them by German officials, which I’ll talk about in minute… But first…
[Read more...]Gold’s Drop Below $1,800 Didn’t Last Long
September 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Thanks to each and every one of you dear readers, for your kind words and thoughts yesterday. I truly appreciate them! I’m very lucky to have so many readers that I feel are “friends”… I think about sitting down with a nice hot cup of coffee, and the Pfennig, and me talking to you, as if I was sitting right there with you… If I ever stray from that type of conversation, please remind me of my roots…
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Home Prices Keep Falling
Good day… Should be an interesting week, as the ECOFIN people meet and Greece is still working on their debt and… this will be my first full week of work in over a month, so all in all, pretty interesting!
What I also found interesting on Friday was the price action of silver… I don’t know if you follow silver or not… I do — very closely, I might add! But silver was outperforming gold by a long shot, rising over $1 on the day, which you don’t normally see in the silver price action. My colleague Aaron yelled over the desk to ask me what was going on with silver, as he too watches it closely… I couldn’t really find anything out there, so the thought came to me very quickly that silver must be playing “catch-up”…
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