Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
If you meet the Buddha, kill him.
— Linji
Markets in the US and Europe closed higher yesterday. The Dow ended up about 100 points. Newswires — forever quick to publish and always slow to think — claimed investors were cheering the resignation announcement from Silvio Berlusconi. The late afternoon rally was a “roaring approval” of the Italian prime minister’s move, they reported.
[Read more...]Investors were staggered yesterday. Stocks got walloped.
Dow down 512 points.
Today, bond yields are falling… oil is below $86. London, Paris, Frankfurt – all down heavily. Only gold has resisted the general rout. It lost only $7 yesterday.
Why?
The reason is debt. It won’t go away. It won’t say ‘adios’ and get on a bus. Like a bad houseguest, it won’t leave!
[Read more...]With the Fed’s self-fulfilling “wealth effect” taking hold…
…both the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 indexes reaching heights above April 2008…and talk of QE2 ending before the June 30 deadline, we begin today with a question: What is the most likely pin to prick this 24-month bull?
[Read more...]Welcome to today’s very special “Birthday Party Edition” of The Daily Reckoning! Our little bull market is two years old today… They grow up so fast! To begin the festivities, please put on your party hats and click on the following link:
[Read more...]The last time that [America] had no government debt, you had a Scottish president. His name was Andrew Jackson. Not only did he pay off the national debt, he also abolished the central bank and tried to close down all the commercial banks.
CLSA Strategist (and Scotsman) Russell Napier, March 24 CFA Society speech
[Read more...]Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!
Our little big bull market celebrated its one-year anniversary yesterday, albeit in tentative style. The Dow managed to eke out an 11-point gain, while the broader S&P 500 fared only slightly better. Investors, it appears, are awaiting the next catalyst to keep the momentum going. But are they running out of excuses to buy?
[Read more...]We can expect that the crowd will probably be wrong. Or as Fred C. Kelly put it more emphatically: The crowd always loses because the crowd is always wrong. It is wrong because it behaves normally. Kelly wrote this in a little 1930 book titled Why You Win or Lose: the Psychology of Speculation. Well see what Kelly meant below.
[Read more...]
Correcting the Growth of Human History
And so, yesterday, the northern hemisphere had its shortest day of the year. In Baltimore, the sun never rose and never set. It was gray all day. Then it was night again.
And so the days dwindle down to a precious few. In astronomical terms, the year is already over. We have passed the winter solstice. From here on out the days grow longer. In terms of the Gregorian Calendar, we still have a few more days to go in 2011. Then, we face a new year. New challenges. New crises. And new opportunities. Will 2012 be the year the human race goes into a downturn…a slump…a correction?
[Read more...]