Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
Is gold money?
That question, directed to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke by Congressman Ron Paul in last week’s hearings before the House Financial Services Committee, strikes terror in the heart of all central bankers.
Bernanke looked stunned and then answered, “No: Gold is an asset.”
[Read more...]“Our interpretation of the increase in gas prices is the economist’s basic mantra of supply and demand,” mused chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday during his first-ever regularly scheduled press conference.
At that moment, the price of oil reached a new post-2008 high.
This morning, it’s pulled back a bit, but not much. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate goes for about $113.15 right now.
[Read more...]In response to the recent multi-month, multi-year and all-time highs posted by the Dow, oil and gold respectively, your suitably-entertained editor last week remarked, “Good Golly…what isn’t going up?!”
Indeed, commodities across the board are on the march and prices from the grocery store to the gas pump are beginning to reflect that reality. One headline we saw this morning called for “$5 gas by Memorial Day.” According to the Lundberg Survey, the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded as of Monday was $3.76…and rising.
[Read more...]Would you like to litter in a national park or blow up a Homeland Security office? This may be your big chance…
The government might have to shut down on May 16th. Is that bad news? A lot of people don’t think so…more below…
Meanwhile…
Worried about inflation? Don’t be. That was Ben Bernanke’s message yesterday. Bloomberg was on the case:
[Read more...]The Dow rose 50 points on Friday. Gold rose too.
As we ended the week, the Dow was over 12,000…gold was over 1,400…and oil was over $100.
And all seemed to be headed up.
But there’s trouble afoot.
Housing in the US, the foundation of most household wealth in the country, has gone into a double dip…which could drag millions more homeowners underwater.
[Read more...]If you live in the United States, your cost of living – even by official stats – is rising twice as fast as in Zimbabwe.
Chairman Ben Bernanke promises to “promote inflation.” We take him at his word…and so do the commodity markets. The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of commodity prices has soared 80% from its lows of early 2009 – touching a fresh two-and-a-half-year high yesterday.
But even if commodity prices weren’t soaring (yet), we would take the Chairman at his word. After all, trusting a central banker to promote inflation is like trusting water to flow downhill.
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Dollar Drops After US Inflation Slows Slightly
Friday morning saw the dollar giving back more of the gains it had booked early last week and the greenback ended the week a bit weaker than it started. The CPI numbers were what sparked Friday’s selling, as the CPI came in a bit lower than forecasts. Consumer prices rose 0.4% in February, with just a 0.1% increase in the ‘core’ number (Ex. Food & Energy). The YOY gain was identical to the January reading at 2.9%, and the Core YOY figure was a bit lower at 2.2%. Apparently some of the currency traders felt these numbers may force the Fed to rethink their stimulus plans. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had indicated there would not be a need for another round of quantitative easing during the past few weeks, but the benign inflation data may indicate our economic recovery is in need of some additional fuel.
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