Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
Look out Greece! Here comes the IMF!
Newly appointed chief of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, today urged Greece’s political parties to unite behind the proposed, so-called “austerity” measures currently under debate in the nation’s parliament in order to right the struggling nation’s financial trajectory.
[Read more...]Dow up 80…oil still below $100…gold still below $1,500….
Oil has a long way to get back to its 2008 high. But it’s still 3 times what it was in 2005 and 5 times its price in 2001.
In the battle between inflation and deflation, it’s not clear to us who’s winning. Prices are rising, but in the context of a general deflationary funk. Try as they might, the feds just can’t shake the Great Correction. It leaves them struggling to loosen monetary policy to free-up the economy…and succeeding only in tightening the noose around the consumer’s neck. Here’s the AP report:
[Read more...]There’s a currency I think of as the “anti-dollar” that continues to appreciate against the US dollar.
Unlike gold, the “anti dollar” can be used to maximize other investments. I’ll reveal this currency in a moment.
But first, why would you want an “anti-dollar” in the first place?
[Read more...]We’re a bit foggy-headed this morning, Fellow Reckoner. We blame the locals. Unlike their Argentine cousins who, despite growing some of the best wine in the world, barely drink, the Brazilians really know how to party. Not that they don’t have good cause to…
Brazil is on top of the world these days. And the whole world is coming to its cities to catch the view. They’ll host the soccer World Cup here in a few years, and the Olympics a couple of years after that. Head down to Ipanema Beach on any given afternoon and you’ll quickly discover that the whole country has taken to the running tracks and the volleyball courts. Everybody is in training. They must think hosting the Olympics means everyone gets to compete in it! Well, at least they’ll all look good in the grandstands…something the impossibly beautiful people here don’t have too much trouble doing.
[Read more...]Stocks were up some on Monday…after falling some more last Friday. All in, major indexes in the US are still sitting a few percentage points below where they began the year. That's not too bad…until one considers that the modest move south comes after the largest, collective global stimulus program ever implemented.
[Read more...]For the first time in eight trading days, the Dow Jones Industrial Average produced a plus sign – up 57 points to 9,744. The last time the Dow achieved this increasingly rare feat was on June 23, when it gained five points to end the day at 10,298 – 554 points higher than yesterday's close.
[Read more...]The city of Harbin lies on the banks of the Songhua River in the northeast of China, in what was Manchuria. This 10th largest city in China is a good place to see how some of the best opportunities in the next phase of Chinas expansion come together. In particular, there are huge profits sitting out there in the expansion of Chinas rail and subway systems.
[Read more...]We hit the streets of Beijing yesterday to start getting a look at street-level economics. We visited a Carrefour hypermarket. Carrefour is the big French retailer and the worlds second largest. It was also one of the early birds to crack China, opening its first store in 1995. Today, it has over 150 stores and is a multibillion-dollar business.
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When Emerging Markets Shape the Developed World
“America is back,” said the President of all the Americans, “Anyone who tells you America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
Well, Dear Reader, we’re here to tell you: America is in decline.
We can give it to you straight because we’re not running for public office. And if we were elected, we would immediately demand a recount.
[Read more...]