The keen-eyed David Galland, Managing Director of Casey Research and regular contributor to The Daily Reckoning, notices something amiss.
[Read more...]The Two Divergent Views of Currency Market Investors
August 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The weekly jobs numbers released yesterday morning showed 25K more people signed up for unemployment last week than the week prior. The number of continuing claims declined slightly, but remains above 4.5 million. The data confirms what everyone outside of CNBC has been saying for quite a while; this is a ‘jobless recovery' (if you can even call it a recovery!) What growth we have had has been spurred by government spending, the private sector just isn't expanding, and won't probably expand for some time.
[Read more...]Inflate Your Debts Away
August 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The stock market in the US was flat on Friday. Gold rose $13. China edged out Japan to become the world's second largest economy. Bonds rose. And the dollar fell.
The Bloomberg report:
The Institute for Supply Management-Chicago Inc.'s business barometer rose to 62.3 this month, exceeding the median forecast of economists surveyed which anticipated the measure would drop to 56. The June reading was 59.1 and figures greater than 50 signal expansion.
[Read more...]US Economic Outlook: Indebted to Death
July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
John Stepek at MoneyWeek.com, talking about the “European bank stress tests� that were “a whitewash, of course� said that it kind of reminded him of “one of Gordon Brown's budgets.�
My immediate reaction, of course, and speaking as a true American, is to ask, “Huh? Gordon who?� as a clever way of reminding these British guys that real Americans, like me, don't know about anything, or care about anything, that is not about America and/or Americans and how it affects us, as Americans, but mostly me, personally, as an American.
[Read more...]Hooray for the Economic Recovery!…of 2016
July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Last week, the price of gold again broke below its new base at $1,200, and the US stock market was again under strong pressure, due to a confluence of fears, most of which point to a deflationary double-dip. The fears were fanned by disappointing second quarter results, by the latest CPI reports that show inflation continuing to moderate, and by yet another poll revealing faltering consumer confidence.
[Read more...]Too Much Debt, Not Enough Oil
July 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
I just returned from the 2010 Agora Financial Investment Symposium in Vancouver, B.C. This year's theme, “Assault on Enterprise,� provided a fascinating context for a wide range of investment insights and recommendations.
According to many of this year's presenters, the assault on American enterprise is intensifying. Because the government has been overpromising, overcommitting and overspending for decades, it is hurtling toward a fiscal train wreck. The numbers have stopped adding up. Looking out, there's NO WAY that most Western governments can ever pay their ongoing obligations or pay off past debt. But that doesn't mean that governments won't try to maintain their expensive and intrusive invasion of the private sector.
[Read more...]Public Debt Replaces Private Debt in the Name of Progress
July 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The Dow fell 109 points yesterday. Gold was flat. Otherwise, all quiet on the financial front.
We're keeping these reckonings short this week. Your editor is attending a financial conference in Vancouver. He doesn't want to miss anything.
What have we learned so far?
Both Rob Parenteau and John Mauldin mentioned the danger of fiscal retrenchment. Tightening seems like the right thing to do. It IS the right thing to do. But it results in bigger deficits.
[Read more...]
Will the FOMC Ignore the Dangers of Printing More Money?
Yesterday's markets barely moved in any significant direction, so we will ignore them and go on to today. It's a big day for the men who rule us. The Fed's Open Market Committee meets to decide what to do.
On the table are a number of small steps…and one big one.
Barron's highlights the big one on this week's cover:
[Read more...]