Search Results for 'normal'

Weighing the Dollar (DXY) Alternatives

The dollar has suffered a landslide of scrutiny and negative sentiment over the past eight months. Yet just nine months ago it was the currency that every investor and central banker in the world wanted to own! The world economy was on the ropes, and the dollar represented safety.

Since then, fear has gradually abated, optimism has returned and this dollar, safe-haven trade has been reversing.

Within this recent retracement of the U.S. currency there has been endless speculation about the future role of the dollar as the world’s primary reserve currency. Moreover, there has even been conjecture that the dollar will…

November 23rd, 2009 | Money and Markets | 0 comments | Continued

Pushing on a String!

There is a desire to see this as a bullish market? Who doesn’t like a bull? If you listen to ongoing discussion on CNBC, Bloomberg, and other media, you get a sense of optimism; or perhaps it’s just a bunch of cheerleaders touting their own book.

I do agree that there is not the euphoria that one gets at market tops. At the same time, review the earnings and PE ratios as discussed by Ian Gordon below and you can see why Wall Street may not be terribly optimistic. Perhaps they don’t really buy the optimism of cheerleading optimists. Also, I’m…

November 18th, 2009 | Gold Investor | 0 comments | Continued

Pension Benefit Guaranty Needs Bailout

msnbc.com:
"The government-chartered company that insures the pensions of one in seven Americans said Friday that its deficit this year nearly doubled to $22 billion.

That’s an improvement over the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.’s midyear record deficit of $33.5 billion, which spiked as auto makers and other companies faltered and caused the insurance fund’s liabilities to spike.

Yet experts and officials say the long-term picture is grim. They say that without major changes, such as higher insurance premiums and less risky investments, the fund eventually will require a taxpayer bailout."

My comment: Why is the government guaranteeing peoples pensions? This is the problem, if people…

November 16th, 2009 | The Real Deal | 0 comments | Continued

Stock Watch: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC), Palm (NASDAQ: PALM)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) will cease insuring checking domestic accounts above the standard $250,000 limit, one year after the government set up the program to ease fears of deposit runs. The banks plan to exit the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Transaction Account Guarantee Program at year end. The program was among emergency measures created in October 2008 to shore up confidence in the banking system and avert a collapse of financial markets. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) plans to opt out on October 16. -Bloomberg

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) shares rose 8 percent on…

November 13th, 2009 | Jutia Group | 1 comment | Continued

Importance of the October Jobs Report Dissected

We can ignore the debates over this lagging indicator…

The Labor Department reported on Friday that 190,000 more jobs were lost in October, only slightly worse than the consensus forecast of 175,000 lost jobs, and job losses for August and September were revised to fewer losses than previously reported. Good news. The negative surprise was that the unemployment rate shot up from 9.8% in September to 10.2% in October, considerably worse than expectations that unemployment would rise to 9.9%.

But should the report influence thinking in either direction regarding the prospects for economic recovery?

I don’t think so.

As I have noted in this column…

November 10th, 2009 | Street Smart Report | 0 comments | Continued

The Next Bust: The “Risk Trade”

A lot of focus was given to the central banks’ meetings this week.

That’s because a lot of people would really like to see target rates start moving up from their low levels.

Some argue for higher rates because they think the world is returning to normal and the emergency policy responses need to be removed sooner rather than later to avoid a date with inflation.

Others are concerned that all of the ultra-easy money will result in asset price inflation, another bubble and ultimately another bust.

But clearly, the central banks have different concerns. This week …

The Federal Reserve kept…

November 10th, 2009 | Money and Markets | 0 comments | Continued

Victor Gonçalves Favors Juniors to Win the 2009 Gold Series

Source: The Gold Report

An avowed Keynesian, Equities and Economics Report writer Victor Gonçalves braces against the economic gale-force headwinds that threaten to whip gold’s stellar run into seasonal weakness. But, before the new year, the yellow metal will generally see more strength than weakness, according to Victor, after which "things really get sour." In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Victor says he’s rooting for the juniors in the homestretch, affirming: "This is the best part about juniors—we’re in results season."

The Gold Report: Victor, you and many others were expecting a major pullback in the market and we had some pullback…

November 9th, 2009 | The Gold Report | 2 comments | Continued

The Glide Path Option

The Present Contains All Possible Futures
The Ugly Unemployment Numbers
Argentinian Disease
The Austrian Solution
The Eastern European Solution
Japanese Disease
The Glide Path Option
Philadelphia, Orlando, and Phoenix

The present contains all possible futures. But not all futures are good ones. Some can be quite cruel. The one we actually get is dictated by the choices we make. For the last few months I have been addressing the choices in front of us, economically speaking. Today I am going to summarize them, and maybe we can look for some signposts that will tell us which path we’re headed down. For…

November 9th, 2009 | Thoughts From the Frontline | 0 comments | Continued

PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish ETF (UUP) Runs Out Of Shares

Odd things are happening in PowerShares DB US Dollar Bullish ETF (UUP). On Thursday (11/5/09) PowerShares was forced to halt trading in this normally unremarkable fund while they filed an application with the SEC to issue more shares. Like most securities, ETFs are issued under a prospectus which allows the sponsor to issue a defined number of shares. This facilitates the creation/redemption process that keeps ETFs priced in line with their net asset value.

Faced with a sudden surge of interest as the dollar reversed higher in recent days, UUP just ran out of shares. This prevented market makers from engaging in their normal…

November 9th, 2009 | Invest With An Edge | 0 comments | Continued

Ryan Davies Finds Hot Technology Produces Solar Power for Half the Price

Source: The Energy Report

A shining example of using the sun’s energy to heat, cool and light the homes and businesses of a desert community in California is poised to power up next year. It’s due in part to the emergence of a technology that uses refraction rather than reflection to produce solar power on a utility-size scale at half the price of photovoltaic technology. But major credit also goes to the pioneering efforts of REDCO, a privately held company, which Ryan Davies established last year to unite free-market concepts with sound environmental policy. The Energy Report caught up with Ryan in the…