Global Market Commentary, Analysis and Investments
The Dow fell 248 points. Oil dropped to $96. And gold down a whopping $46. Why?
“Deficit Effort Nears Collapse”
Thus did yesterday’s Wall Street Journal describe the latest Congressional failure. To put it into perspective, a group of well-meaning, intelligent members of Congress had been asked to do something very simple. Every head of a household in the nation does it. Every businessman does it. Even some college students do it.
[Read more...]On its way to becoming the world’s greatest superpower, the United States pulled off some truly remarkable trades.
Two notable transactions come to mind and were both outstanding bargains.
Secret loans from the Fed to Wall Street totaled $1.2 trillion at the height of the 2008 panic.
That’s the conclusion of Bloomberg after analyzing 29,346 pages of documents released by the Fed only because Bloomberg went all the way to the US Supreme Court to obtain them.
[Read more...]Warren Buffett is a gifted investor. No doubt about it. Over a career spanning roughly six decades, he’s amassed a fortune for himself upwards of $50 billion. As the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, the “Oracle of Omaha” has also done well for his investors. Those who bought shares of his investment company back in 1990 have since made over seventeen times their money, or more than 14% per year. Even though that return has fallen to about 5 or 6% per year over the last decade, Berkshire has still handily outperformed the market. As such, his annual shareholders’ meeting draws an adoring crowd large enough to make most rock bands blush.
[Read more...]As if it were not strange enough! Microsoft bought a phone company with no phones for $8.5 billion. Then, the public bid up the price of another Internet company, LinkedIn, to the point where buyers were paying more than $20 for every dollar of revenue that came the company’s way. As for profits, they capitalized each one at more than 700 times. At this rate, an investor wouldn’t earn his money back until 2,711AD.
[Read more...]An Interview with Addison Wiggin by Chris Martenson
Welcome to Crash Concepts where the economy, energy, and the environment are explored. Up next, fresh ideas and insights into the factors that are driving the world and shaping your future. Presenting information you can’t afford to live without, here’s Chris Martenson.
[Read more...]Are you paying attention, Fellow Reckoner? What may well go down as the greatest tragicomedy in history is playing out right before our very eyes.
Lucky us!
Some time today – or was it yesterday? And does it even matter? – The United States of America will crash through its so-called “debt ceiling,” the somewhat arbitrary $14.29 trillion dollar mark above which it must implement “extraordinary measures” in order to keep the lights on and its “services” running. Such are the extraordinary times in which we live. The event – which inspired little more than a rather sanguine “Humph” in the markets yesterday – sets in motion what The Wall Street Journal describes as an “uncertain, 11-week political scramble to avoid a default.”
[Read more...]We had a pretty volatile trading day yesterday, with the dollar falling dramatically in early trading but climbing back up through most of the afternoon. Overnight trading has been choppy, and the dollar is trading pretty much right where it was when I headed home last night. It was the volatile Empire Manufacturing data that sent the dollar into a tailspin yesterday morning. An index of manufacturing in the New York region was cut nearly in half, falling from 21.70 in April to a measure of just 11.88 in May. This number is traditionally very volatile, so it shouldn’t have any long-term impact, but it did set the markets in a ‘sell dollar’ mode which continued when the Net TIC flows were released 30 minutes later.
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Who’s Still OK With Deficit Spending Now?
I had to laugh yesterday when the New York traders came in and didn’t sell the currencies right away… I said to myself, “Self, maybe the ‘big boys’ read the Pfennig and now know that I’ve uncovered their ‘game,’ so they have to lay low for a while!” HA! Whatever the case, the currencies held their gains most of the day, and even added on in some cases.
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