The market started the week on the back foot but remained well within the consolidation that we have seen for the past four sessions. Gold prices fell $6.19 an ounce yesterday as the prospect of a September rate hike by the Federal Reserve continued to depress the demand for the precious metal. In the latest…
Conditions in China appear to be going from bad to worse. On Monday, another bloodbath ensued in Chinese stocks. The Shanghai Composite Index nosedived 8.5% – the largest single-day decline in eight years. For every stock that rallied, 75 plummeted. So much for all those government stimulus measures! I’m afraid the latest news on the economic front…
As we’ve seen in Louisiana and West Virginia, the commodities downturn has had a real impact on state budgets. Back in April for example, we explained how a sharp decline in oil tax revenue helped push LSU to the brink of bankruptcy and in West Virginia, the impact of falling coal prices has put significant pressure on the state’s…
When do we get to exercise democracy and fire every factotum, apparatchik, toady and lackey in the state who has abused his/her authority? Everyone lauds “creative destruction” when it shreds monopolies and disrupts private enterprise “business as usual.” If thousands lose their middle-class livelihoods– hey, that’s the price of progress. Improvements in productivity and efficiency can’t…
The Shanghai Composite Index (SSEC) plunged 8.5% to start trading for the week. The ripple effects were wide and far-reaching even as arguments continue floating that the collapse in China’s stock market matters little outside of China and does not truly reflect on economic conditions in the country. Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook summed up…
Gilead Sciences (GILD) reports its FQ2 ’15 results after the closing bell today. Both Estimize and Wall Street are predicting a fall in EPS and revenues QoQ. Estimize are forecasting an EPS figure of $2.77 and a revenue target of $7.540B. Wall Street estimates EPS to come in at $2.64 and revenues to be $7.360B. …
Right now, the financial world is focused on the breathtaking stock market crash in China, but don’t forget to keep an eye on what is happening in Europe. Collectively, the European Union has a larger population than the United States, a larger economy than either the U.S. or China, and the banking system in Europe is…
This headline “US Recession Imminent – Durable Goods Drop For 5th Month, Core CapEx Collapses”, following on “Forget Recession: According To Caterpillar There Is A Full-Blown Global Depression”, impelled me to check to see if I’d missed something. Term Spreads The first thing that I wanted to inspect was the term spread, in this case the 10…
The diamond market has never came close to the insane levels reached during the investment boom which peaked in 1980. Diamonds entered a 37 year bear market, which often follows such a major Phase Transition. This warns that we could yet still see the final major low unfold in 2016 on an annual closing basis…
When we talk about the euro, we usually don’t consider the United Kingdom as a dominant presence in the discussion. After all, despite being a member of the Eurozone group, London has opted to keep the Pound Sterling as her local currency. When it came to the latest ongoing Greek crisis, nary a word was…
