Weidmann the Strict BuBa chief Jens Weidmann is complaining about the EU Commission’s decision to eschew confrontation with France over its repeated inability to deliver on its debt and deficit targets, and rightly so. Some people may argue that the French government’s recent willingness to implement some long-overdue, if halfhearted reforms, should be taken into…
“Davidson” submits: Below is the updated chart of the U.S. Energy Information Administration monthly data from 2010- which includes Friday’s report. Link: Two weeks ago I sent the EIA data in chart form with the comment that psychological not logical thinking is roiling the security markets. Where in 2012 fears of “Peak Oil” resulted in a…
Industrial output increased sharply in November vs. the previous month, rising at a rate that beat expectations by a wide margin (+1.3% vs. Econoday.com’s consensus forecast of +0.7%). This morning’s monthly release strengthens the case for expecting that the Federal Reserve will begin raising interest rates next year, perhaps sooner than the mid-2015 forecast that’s been widely…
We have happened upon that time in the investment cycle when investors vastly eschew active management of their assets in favor of a more passive management style. In fact, I read recently 461 Hedge Funds, a hallmark of active investment management, shut their doors in the first half of this year alone. If liquidations continue…
According to a recent research report released by the Cato Institute, Bitcoin could potentially be replaced by other types of crypto-currencies in the near future, which should have better security features and will be less volatile than the current digital currency. The research report added that despite its volatility issues, Bitcoin could play a very important role…
“Oil prices have dropped $50 a barrel. That may not sound like much. But when you take $107 and you take $57, that’s almost a 47 percent decline…!” –James Puplava, The Financial Sense News Network May not sound like much? I guess when you hunker down in the lab with the old slide rule and do…
So where do we go now? It is beginning to look like we just should move to a beach and live off the land at least until government comes in and begins to tax in-kind as did Rome. Anyone with 10% of a functioning brain is starting to connect the dots. We can see 2015.75…
We’re now six weeks beyond the end of the Fed’s latest round of Quantitative Easing. With QE in the past and the Federal Open Market Commitee taking center stage on Wednesday, let’s take a quick look at what’s been happening for US Treasuries. The yields on the 10-, 20- and 30 year Treasuries have generally…
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE One year ago this month the yield on the 10-year note had just underwent the strongest 18-month rally in 30-years. This rally was off the charts rare, as the prior seven strongest 18-month rallies were just half this size, taking it to the stop of channel (A) in the chart…
