Officially, the crisis is over. Everyone says so. Central bankers and Treasury officials have been congratulating themselves. It’s been a year now since the end of the world didn’t happen. These fellows take credit for it. Claptrap! Balderdash! Flimflam! Words: 669
This is NOT a business cycle: this is a one-time reversal of twenty years of inflation of the household balance sheet. An aging population needs a 10% savings rate (at least) to meet minimum funding requirements for the biggest retirement wave in US history but, instead, with 17% effective unemployment, many Americans are dis-saving. Words: 332
HOLDRS, an acronym for HOLding Company Depository ReceiptS are essentially a basket of stocks that cover different market sectors. Buy the appropriate HOLDRS and you get exposure to the desired industry, just like an ETF but with one major difference -HOLDRS cannot add new stocks to their portfolio. Words: 732
From what we know about the many and growing market applications for tantalum, the impending supply shortage of tantalum, the present low price for tantalum and the historic high price tantalum commanded just a few years ago it is evident that the future price of tantalum has no where to go but up – big time! Words: 624
What is underpinning current dollar strength is a shift in market focus toward some of the headwinds facing the global economic environment. That’s swinging the risk appetite pendulum back toward safety, which is positive for the dollar. Words: 692
By cutting the federal funds rate to a range of zero percent to 0.25 percent, the Fed has forced rates on short-term Treasuries, short-term certificates of deposit, and money market accounts into the gutter. You can’t earn squat on these safe, cash-like investments so where can you turn for the income you need? Words: 540
Of the $200+ trillion in derivatives on US banks’ balance sheets, 85% are based on interest rates and for that reason I cannot take any of the Fed’s mumblings about raising interest rates seriously at all. Remember, most if not all, of the bailout money has gone to US banks in order to help them raise capital. So why would the Fed make a move that could potentially destroy these firms’ equity and essentially undoing all of its previous efforts? That being said I still see derivatives as a trillion dollar ticking time bomb with a short fuse. Words: 506
Real estate has definitely not bottomed in the U.S., and probably not anywhere else either. You have to take a long-term view of this. At this point in time I am completely uninterested in speculating in U.S. real estate – and I don’t foresee being interested for at least five years. I reserve the right to change my mind, but I think it’ll be at least five years. Words: 1340
Gold has been the best-performing major commodity since the financial crisis began and we see no big reason why that outperformance should be over. After its breathless run to $1220, it’s entitled to correct back toward $1,000—or even a bit below that chiliastic level—without ending its bull market. Words: 707
Governments the world over have spent the past year bailing out, backstopping, insuring, and stimulating their financial sectors and economies throwing around trillions of dollars, euros, yen, and pounds like Halloween candy. Officials have assured us there’s little risk to that strategy but I believe that the opposite is true – that if you borrow and spend too much, all you’re going to do is transform a Wall Street debt crisis into a Washington debt crisis. Words: 882
FACEBOOK
TWITTER