Maybe you can chalk it up to the holiday season, but judging from the traffic I saw at the mall over the weekend, consumers are ready to open up their wallets this year.
[Read more...]Confidence in the EU Helps Rally the Markets
November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Good day… Chuck felt it was best to sit out one more day as he tries to recover from a major cold he came down with late last week. He wanted me to share a few of his thoughts with the Pfennig readers this morning, so I’ll start right off with them. Take it away Chuck…
Here are some observations from the cheap seats, where I sit on I.R.
[Read more...]Markets Rally. Details to Follow…
October 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Stocks up 339 points on the Dow! Gold at $1,747! Oil over $90!
Forget all of our worries about another big swing down in asset prices…about a Japan-like slump that could last a generation…about gold at $1,200 and the Dow at 6,000…
…we were wrong, wrong, wrong!
[Read more...]Gold Rallies During “Risk-On” Trading
October 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Why did the Dow Jones Industrial Average soar 162 points yesterday? And why is it rocketing another 300 points this morning?
Was it because Consumer Confidence for October plummeted from 46.0 to 39.8…or was it because the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes fell for the third straight month?
[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...]The Shifting Focus of US Consumer Spending
October 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The feds released a jobs report on Friday. It said that things weren’t as bad as everyone thought. The US economy actually added 103,000 new jobs in September.
But wait. That is not a lot of jobs. There are about 150 million people who make up the labor force. This number increases — by immigration and population growth — by about 1.2 million per year. So, 100,000 new jobs doesn’t do much to restore full employment.
[Read more...]Why Government Spending Won’t Inspire Consumer Confidence
October 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Blood ran in the streets again yesterday. The Dow fell another 258 points. A few more days like that and the index will be below 10,000.
That ought to make an impression. Among other things, it should help people realize that there has been no recovery…not even a weak one. And there won’t be a recovery, ever. Not of this economy.
[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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When Consumers Stop Consuming
Dow up 46 yesterday…gold bouncing around.
Not much change, in other words. Nobody can figure out what is happening in Europe. Investors wait…and watch.
In America, the news has been good and bad. The good news was that unemployment was not as bad as it had been. But the bad news was that the good news was largely fraudulent.
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