It’s becoming clearer by day that there is little sanity left in the realm that had once been hailed a “free market”. Traders suck up the “good news” of more QE from the Federal Reserve in the U.S., like a junky celebrating one more smack filled syringe he hopes will be soon smuggled in by his big brother. How much longer can the lunacy persist?
U.S. stocks looked unusually strong on Friday as two major factors concerning short term risk in global markets changed dramatically. The stagnant housing market and uncertainty over a viable path to solvency in Greece, which have been weighing heavily on global markets, seem to be less threatening if Friday’s data were judge. Technicals remain extremely overbought in commodities and equities as markets now face Bernanke and Q1 GDP this week.
The world has followed Obama's recent visit to Asia, especially his visit to China, with hopes that Asian currencies would be allowed to appreciate over the short term. China's Renminbi has been re-pegged to the U.S. dollar since mid 2009 and should be allowed to appreciate vs. the dollar, as every major currency has over
[continue reading...]
Inevitably even the grizzlies have been watching economic indicators gaging the housing market “recovery”, as talk of a 2009 rebound in the United States has now been confirmed by 3.5% growth in the third quarter. Existing home sales bottoming, construction spending pulsing and extreme incentives for new buyers have sweetened the potential for a repeat of the 2004 housing recovery we all loved so well. Yet there remains the issue of magnitude, regarding a potential housing recovery, which may contrast that of 2004 a great deal, and could kill the lasting effects of a bottomed housing market on the broader economy. We will attempt to review and assess the American economy by result of the Housing Market from a historical and quantitative standpoint.
While we all first learned that bonds and stocks perform "inversely" of each other, because bonds are relatively safe while equity shares are more risky, it should be understood that this is firstly and finally a ridiculous adage to waste a moment recalling. The oversimplified credence should, and soon will be, destroyed once and for all as long term
[continue reading...]
The positive durable goods report, citing new orders up 1.8% for May, fought the May new home sales numbers, below consensus at -0.6% (m/m), as conviction wavered among market movers throughout early trading Wednesday. The crux of the day's market moving news came in the form of the FOMC statement on Federal Reserve policy, where
[continue reading...]
Summing up the pieces that have lead us to the strange "here and now" in global financial markets may produce a different result for each market practitioner, yet there are truths agreed upon by most worth mentioning. The purpose of this article is to identify some truths and un-truths, which will provide a fresh slice
[continue reading...]
The genre of investing known as "fixed income" has been written off by most investors over the past decade as uninteresting, largely due to the seemingly dry nature of the bond market. Returns on bonds are more stable compared to stocks but generally lag profits made by the basket of S&P 500 equity shares amidst
[continue reading...]
While the automotive manufacturing business is a relatively un-complicated process, the logistics of compiling inputs to create a finished product has become more complicated in recent years. Most significant to U.S. investors are the "big three" automakers Ford (F), General Motors (GM), and Chrysler, all of which are finding different degrees of strife in the
[continue reading...]
Equities gained upward momentum in U.S. markets Friday morning after headline econ data was reported in line with expectations. However, the S&P 500 and DJIA turned negative by noon EST as distress signals in the automobile industry and economic report autopsies pulled equities down. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) changed 0.0% from March to April,
[continue reading...]
