The fuse has been lit. The world economy is in serious trouble and we have the worst possible people at the helm. You have Obama who wants to double the funding for the SEC and CFTC to go after the banks because he smells blood. He also wants to add a $10 tax to oil…
Introduction From reading the media, one gets the impression that bailing out its banks is the most serious economic problem the Eurozone faces. This problem could easily be avoided. As I have explained elsewhere, not allowing banks to sell off loans they make would resolve this problem. But bank problems aside, the Eurozone countries appear to…
HCP (HCP) released its 4th quarter and full year results on February 9th. The market did not like the results. HCP stock fell from $34/share down to $28/share in one day. The company’s stock has declined ~28% over the last week. Source: Finviz The company’s stock has a dividend yield of 8.5%. If HCP can pay steady or increasing dividends…
We have made no secret of the fact that the entirety of the Japanese Prime Minister Abe economic recovery program is predicated on the foundation of a weak currency. The effectiveness of that program has now become suspect mainly due to an 8% increase in the value of the Yen against the US Dollar since…
One of the consistent trends you’ll find in my econ and finance work is that I don’t think much about Central Banks. In other words, I think mainstream macro puts far too much emphasis on the efficacy of things that Central Bankers do. This is why I said QE wouldn’t do much back in 2009…
Alright – it is time to post another update on the T2108 – what is it you ask? (in the case you haven’t been following this blog for very long). It is the percentage of stocks trading above their 40-day moving average. This is probably the single best predictor I know when it comes to…
Negative rates have not worked for the ECB, Sweden, Japan, or Switzerland. Nonetheless, Fed Chair Janet Yellen is back on that idea today in Congressional testimony. Specifically, Yellen Says Fed Evaluating Possibility of Negative Rates in US. “We had previously considered them and decided that they would not work well to foster accommodation back in 2010,”…
So what was new yesterday that drove the dollar in the dirt against the new safe haven stars (euro, yen, and gold)? I would have to say Yellen’s feckless performance in front of the cameras during here congressional testimony. The more she defended the Fed view, the more everyone realized there is no view. This…
Benn Steil and Emma Smith at the Council on Foreign Relations present an interesting picture of Chinese reserves. They write: The People’s Bank of China has been selling off foreign currency reserves at a prodigious rate to keep the RMB stable. At $3.2 trillion, China’s reserves still seem enormous. But they are down $760 billion from…
A question may go through the minds of some readers as they read many of the articles written by this “precious metals commentator.” That question is one of relevance. Why should readers or investors who are interested in precious metals want to read about “politics,” geopolitical events, or even social justice issues? We need to…
