Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
No panic on Wall Street — yet. Gold still over $1,600.
But watch out. Our hunch is that when people come to their senses…they will run for the exits.
Europe’s shifting from austerity to “growth”…which really means more debt.
America’s growth is phony — with fewer jobs today than when the ’08 recession began.
[Read more...]Friday’s price action in the currencies was all about tight ranges, but if there was any bias, it was to sell dollars, especially after it was announced that the first print (they’ll be revisions coming) of first-quarter US GDP was 2.2%, down from the fourth-quarter’s 3% clip.
We edge ever so slightly to the other side of the storm from the “eye” and data print after data print show that. Shoot, Rudy, the “experts” had forecast slippage, so they see what’s happening too. Unfortunately for their reputations, they forecast first-quarter GDP at 2.5%, but it printed at 2.2%, even worse slippage than the “experts” saw happening.
[Read more...]Dow up more than 100 points yesterday. Gold up $18.
Google…Apple…what more do you need to know?
“Blah, blah, blah…don’t you feel you’re wasting your time?”
Our friend was being sympathetic. She gave us a look of pity, tightly controlling her face muscles; as if it might slide into contempt at any moment. After spending so much time with rocks, dirt, cement…cattle, grapes…doing such real things, we admitted that writing about economics and finance seemed a little light. As if there is nothing real there.
[Read more...]Good day. The dollar traded in a fairly tight range most of the day, holding on to earlier gains. But just after lunch, sentiment shifted and the dollar started to drop, closing U.S. trading below the level it opened. And the fall accelerated as Asian traders entered the markets, pushing the euro (EUR) back above $1.335 and Aussie (AUD) over $1.04.
[Read more...]Poor old Ben Bernanke has a deflation phobia. He sees it everywhere the way the kid in The Sixth Sense saw dead people. And Bernanke is equally terrified of falling stock prices (and their effect on consumer confidence).
Falling stock prices are what some people call deflation, or asset price deflation. Bernanke, the governor of the US Federal Reserve, believes the Fed made the Depression a Great Depression by raising interest rates too soon during the US recovery. He won’t make that mistake again! He will simply not allow stocks to fall.
[Read more...]As I was watching the market reactions yesterday, there seemed to be a lot of optimism floating around as equities rose to their highest levels since 2007, and the dollar, according to the dollar index, finished the day above 80. Yesterday started out with a bang on US trading as retail sales came in, as expected, with a 1.1% gain for February. This rise, which was the biggest in five months, coupled with a small upward revision to January’s number, had many jumping for joy. The higher retail numbers were being attributed to the better jobs report of late, which does provide support, but I would like to see a lot more before I join the masses by dancing in the streets.
[Read more...]Dow up 45 points on Friday. The 10-year T-note right on the 2% yield mark.
Almost all the news is good. It looks like recovery is finally here.
Or, are we just getting used to a punky economy…where even a little improvement looks like a boom?
As far as we know, the US economy is still in a Great Correction…with plenty more correction ahead.
[Read more...]U.S. taxpayers have lost $133 billion from TARP — the abominable acronym inflicted on us by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson — a new report out this morning shows.
We begin another week pulled in two directions: In one direction lie unresolved failures in policy… and the mayhem it has wrought in the financial system. In the other lie breakthroughs in energy and biotechnology.
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GDP Growth: The Civic Duty of Every US Consumer
No panic on Wall Street — yet. Gold still over $1,600.
But watch out. Our hunch is that when people come to their senses…they will run for the exits.
Europe’s shifting from austerity to “growth”…which really means more debt.
America’s growth is phony — with fewer jobs today than when the ’08 recession began.
[Read more...]