Candlesticks Predict Rise in Fannie Mae Shares; but Who Will Buy?

Fannie Mae is a “Government-Sponsored Enterprise,” but even so, it is a private corporation whose shares are widely owned, principally by financial institutions. In recent months, the value of those shares has plummeted from a high of $70.57 in August 2007…

Joyful Assignment For The Next President: A Unified National Energy Policy

By his own admission, a certain former President was not keen on “the vision thing” as a general proposition. He never did get around to proposing a Unified National Energy Policy. The successor co-Presidency brought forth many initiatives, but a…

Dangerous Kiss

The Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 and 100 have exhibited quite satisfying price advances over the past four trading days, driven in part by fine reports from Google, Intel, Johnson & Johnson and others; together with P&L reports from…

The Treasury Proposes More Alphabet Agencies

While the Treasury Department’s proposals for overhauling regulatory oversight of the financial industry have been in preparation almost since the day Secretary Paulson assumed office, their release at this time almost certainly is a reflection of the realities and massive…

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Doubles Down at the Blackjack Table

That’s exactly the thing to do when you’re behind, isn’t it? Double your bet so that you can “make it all back.” Right.

Having fallen into the hole to the tune of fourteen billion dollars, the Federal Government’s own Pension Benefit…

Gold: What if we had an Inflation Party, but Nobody Came?

Conventional wisdom (or is it a firmly-rooted popular misconception?) holds that Gold is the ultimate inflation hedge. Today’s consumer is convinced that inflation is here, because he winces at the gasoline pump and his wife tells him that food prices…

It’s Almost Time to Put Up the Hurricane Shutters

January 30, 2008 – Following the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s decision today to lower the Federal Funds interest rate by one-half of one per cent, the Dow Industrials promptly raced higher by about 200 points. The euphoria lasted about…

Market Report: Evening of January 4, 2008

A. The Indexes
The decline today is significant. In nominal terms, the S&P 500 is back to where it was a year ago, which means that an entire year has gone for naught. The likelihood is now nearly 100% that the…

The Canaries in the Coal Mine, the Robins in Spring, and Candlesticks

Having discovered that the Candlestick patterns of stock prices in early October 1987 accurately predicted the catastrophic decline which developed during a two-week period which culminated in “Black Monday,” a larger question remained: Did the Candlesticks also predict the decline…