U.S. banking stocks are underperforming, with a 6% drop in September 2024, compared to the S&P 500 remaining flat. Bank executives have issued warnings about lower-than-expected recoveries from investment banking and the effects of looming interest rate cuts. With U.S. banks trading at lower P/E ratios (11.7x for 2024 and 10.4x for 2025), analysts view the sector as potentially undervalued. Meanwhile, capital requirements have been scaled back, but pessimism has intensified after Berkshire Hathaway reduced its investment in Bank of America. This may offer an entry point into the sector for value investors.
Read More »Derivatives: Their Origin, Evolvement and Eventual Corruption – Got Gold! (+5K Views)
The term “derivative” has become a dirty, if not evil word. So much of what ails our global financial system has been laid-at-the-feet of this misunderstood, mischaracterized term – derivatives. The purpose of this paper is to outline the origin, growth and ultimately the corruption of the derivatives market – and explain how something originally designed to provide economic utility has morphed into a tool of abusive, manipulative economic tyranny. Words: 3355
Read More »Coming Derivatives Crisis Will Cause Panic in Financial Markets With Horrific Consequences – Here’s Why (+2K Views)
Wall Street has been transformed into a gigantic casino where people are betting on just about anything that you can imagine. This works fine as long as there are not any wild swings in the economy and risk is managed with strict discipline but, as we have seen, there have been times when derivatives have caused massive problems in recent years - the government bailout because of derivatives at AIG; the failure of MF Global because of bad derivatives trades; and the 6 billion dollar loss that JPMorgan Chase recently suffered because of derivatives - [but the next] derivatives panic that comes will destroy global financial markets, and the economic fallout from the financial crash that will happen as a result will be absolutely horrific. [Let me explain my contention.] Words: 1485
Read More »Which is Riskier? Investing in Gold & Silver or in the Dow 30 Stocks?
While gold is slightly more volatile than the Dow 30, on average, all of the individual components are more volatile than gold and only half are less volatile than silver and platinum. [So much for] the prevailing myth...that they are risky investments due to their volatility. [Let's take a closer look at the specifics.] Words: 250
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