Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
Global markets took it on the chin yesterday after unexpected Italian election results materialized.
That’s right: Europe matters again. The never-ending crisis returns! Fear has found its way back into the markets…
The major US indexes ripped higher out of the gate Monday morning. But as soon as anti-austerity votes began to pile up across the pond, spooked investors began making excuses to sell…
[Read more...]“Hey why’s the market up big?� your editor asked a stockbroker friend yesterday.
“Because everything’s great today?� the friend deadpanned.
“But wasn’t everything broken yesterday?� your editor persisted.
“Yes,� the friend replied. “But today it’s fixed.�
[Read more...]At a recent conference on economic cooperation in Germany, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin explained it was “quite possible” that in the future Russia would join the eurozone. He also expressed that the move would probably bring about the replacement of the US dollar with the euro as the world’s reserve currency.
[Read more...]Yesterday, JPMorgan & Chase Co. reported its anticipated impact of $600 billion in additional quantitative easing on the dollar, which will be devastating. JPMorgan finds it likely loose monetary policy could cause the dollar to collapse below 75 yen and become the weakest of planet’s most-traded currencies.
[Read more...]The year to September reporting is in for the European Central Bank Gold Agreement (CBGA), the group that controls the aggregate gold sales for the eurozone, Sweden, and Switzerland. The results are not that surprising — the group sold only a meager 6.2 tonnes. However, the precipitous drop in sales from the year prior period is staggering… the members’ gold sales are down 96 percent.
[Read more...]Currencies everywhere were devaluing against tangible assets and necessities. Corn prices doubled between April 2006 and January 2008. The principal cause was energy: ethanol, fertilizer, water, transportation. The best topsoil in North America had eroded from 18 to 10 inches over the past 50 years. The erosion would have been much greater without fertilizers. More fertilizer, which might slow topsoil erosion, needed more energy. Potash Corporation from Canada expected the cost of producing potash fertilizer would rise by nearly 70% in 2007 due to increased demand for food and fuel. Cambridge Energy Research Associates estimated the worldwide cost to produce oil and natural gas (labor and equipment) had risen 53% since 2004. In some cases the rising costs had led producers to scrap exploration. Exxon estimated the cost of building a gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar at $3 billion in 2004. Estimates in 2007 were $18 billion. The joint project of Exxon and Qatar was dropped.
[Read more...]It is unfortunate the media does not make better use of an accessible resource: itself. Newspapers and financial TV are generally content to report what is being said today with no reference to the past. There seems to be no memory. A recent instance is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s opinion that inflation is not a concern. In a sane world, his opinion would not matter much. We live in a more nonsensical atmosphere in which abstractions substitute for reality.
[Read more...]At the G20 Summit, US and European politicians were at odds over the best steps forward. Nonetheless, given a weak global economy, government leaders are usually in a hurry to be seen doing something…
Not unlike vandals in Toronto, who — with little regard for the usefulness of their efforts — were arrested by the hundreds. This truck, for example, would benefit from a little less action on opposing sides. 
[Read more...]Faith in Europe’s nearly $1 trillion bailout is sputtering considerably. The latest Bloomberg tally shows 73 percent of global investors polled think it’s likely Greece will still default.
In addition, over 40 percent expect Greece to quit the euro. All that bailout sounds like money well spent, indeed.
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In Istanbul: The Rise & Fall of Society
It’s Istanbul, not Constantinople, as the song goes. In this history is an omen for any powerful state (read: the U.S.). A somewhat obscure essayist knew all about it back in 1959. His little book deserves wider circulation. Below, we’ll take a look.
Constantinople was once the seat of a vast, rich empire. The successor to Rome, it ruled over a land that stretched from the Caucasus to the Adriatic, from the Danube to the Sahara. The Dark Ages were dark only if you ignore the flourishing civilization on the Bosporus.
[Read more...]Click for detailed story