When it comes to geopolitics, all anyone wants to talk about is Syria. And understandably so. When it comes to financial markets, all anyone wants to talk about is China – an equally understandable fixation. To be sure, China was already a big driver of risk on/ risk off sentiment going into August of 2015….
Experts Agree: It Is Not 2008 If someone were to ask us what year it was, we would probably politely answer that it was 2016, curious to find out whether the inquirer was a) very confused, b) had only recently awoken from a coma and was still unsure of his when-abouts, or c) was a time traveler…
By Dr. David Kass In SEC Form 4 filings, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) has disclosed that in January and early February 2016, it has added to its stake in Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) at prices between $72 and $80 per share. This additional investment of approximately $1.1 billion ($634 million in early January and $446…
The DAX 30 (FXCM: GER30) has risen 3.05% this morning and may continue to rise over the next few days as short-sellers get squeezed out of their positions. The cause of the latest rally has likely been the oversold conditions present at the end of last week, which triggered profit taking by short-sellers and U.S. Retail Sales…
Last year our real GDP grew 2.4 percent, primarily driven by personal consumption and fixed investments, by both residential and non-residential fixed investments. However, markets in 2015 ended up flat. That also means corporations have added one-year worth of retained earnings in their balance sheets without any market price gains. At the end of last…
It seems that Twitter (TWTR) has been under siege by an army of bears. The company has desperately tried to solve its user growth problems ever since its 2013 IPO. For a while, it was able to distract shareholders from those problems by ramping up its revenue generating activities, but now it seems that no amount…
Gold declined from 1250 area to around 1210 today as risk assets staged a recovery in Asia. After a week-long holiday, China market reopened with a 0.3% higher CNY mid-point set by the central bank PBoC. This momentous appreciation and dip buying interests propped up equities in the region, which hammered gold as a safe…
Markets are cheerful, ignoring reasons not to be cheerful such as a contraction in Japan and poor Chinese trade data. Does this imply more stimulus that markets love so much? A testimony by ECB President Mario Draghi is the big event for today. This testimony could be different: EUR/USD is down on the better market…
Alphabet, previously Google, reported healthy Q4 2015 earnings that topped analyst estimates. Google’s core ad business saw a resurgence in growth aided by the company’s change in ad format. Alphabet’s non-core projects continue to be a drain on the company’s profitability though Google’s capex spending on these businesses has slowed down considerably. Alphabet stock appears…
The time tested proverb “A gold mine is a hole in the ground with a liar at the top” is generally attributed to Mark Twain, although he may have just popularized it. The last few years, he has a lot of company in feeling that way. Other than the coal miners, gold miners have probably been the…
