Consumers await Black Friday months in advance and make plans to be at the head of the crowd at their favorite department store. Some stores open their doors at midnight, others at 6:00 am. For shoppers, it is an opportunity to cash in on the biggest bargains of the year. But for retailers, it is…
After pivoting about five times in 2011, PocketMath co-founder Casey Grooms stumbled upon the concept of real-time bidding by chance at a party. Singapore-based self-serve mobile advertising platform PocketMath announced earlier this week the raising of a US$10 million series A funding round from Rakuten Ventures – what it claims to be one of the largest series A rounds…
The AUD/USD pair fell rather significantly during the course of the week, slamming into the 0.85 handle. Now that it appears that we are getting ready to break down below it, I feel that the Australian dollar will continue to lose value going forward. It’s probably only a matter of time before we test the…
The AUD/USD pair fell rather significantly during the course of the week, slamming into the 0.85 handle. Now that it appears that we are getting ready to break down below it, I feel that the Australian dollar will continue to lose value going forward. It’s probably only a matter of time before we test the…
Although OPEC’s decision to maintain current crude production quotas was not entirely unexpected (see post), the market reaction was violent. WTI crude fell by 10% over the last two days of the week. At $66 per barrel North American producers have real problems on their hands. While Eagle Ford is still profitable,…
Last week’s economic data included many reports but a similar message: Continuing growth, but a touch less than hoped for. The big news came from the energy markets and the plunge in oil prices after the OPEC meeting. The knee-jerk reaction was to sell anything related to energy. This is surprising for several reasons: The…
It’s back-to-school time. Why not take a page from the kids’ books and do some learning of your own? QuickBooks is easy to use, intuitive and flexible. But it is not an accounting manual or class or tutorial. If your business is exceptionally uncomplicated, you might get by without knowing a lot about the principles of…
Today’s Outside the Box is special, because I’m about to give you a preview of things to come at Mauldin Economics. For months now I have been saying to my partners that we need to develop a service for the professionals who read me – the financial advisors, portfolio managers, family offices… you know who…
The average family selling a home for the first time and moving on to another home or newer town will not need to worry about capital gains. According to the IRS, when you sell your primary residence (the key word here is primary residence or the home you actually live in), you can realize up…
The US dollar has been consolidating for the past couple of weeks, and that phase appears to be coming to an end. Next week’s economic data and events will likely underscore the divergent theme, which works in the dollar’s favor. We do not expect the ECB to announce a sovereign bond purchase program at next…
