The year 2008 was full of nasty surprises. One of the biggest was the government takeover of twin mortgage giants Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA, or Fannie Mae) and Federal Housing Lending Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC, or Freddie Mac). The takeover happened almost overnight. Homes values were sinking fast. Between the two companies, they guaranteed most…
Sales of new Machine Tools (blue line) bumped up in June. From EDA Apparently they adjust this data but don’t make mention of revisions. The graphical representation through May, while still weak, is different from the last release per this post. Again, my contact’s input… “Just an update for you, some disturbing news has leaked out this week….
Mastercard Inc (NYSE:MA) and Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) (LON:BARC) released their latest earnings reports before opening bell. MasterCard reported adjusted earnings of 81 cents per share and revenue of $2.4 billion. Analysts had been looking for earnings per share of 85 cents and revenue of $2.4 billion. Barclays posted pretax profits of £3.114 billion, a 25% increase year…
Beijing’s efforts to engineer a strong stock rally and the recent Shanghai market collapse have had quite limited effects on western markets, but going forward the fallout from Chinese market meddling will likely be less benign. Unlike western corporations, Chinese businesses are much more dependent on bank financing than selling stock to raise capital. And…
Devaluation has a negative consequence few mention: the cost of imports skyrockets. When stagnation grabs exporting nations by the throat, the universal solution offered is devalue your currency to boost exports. As a currency loses purchasing power relative to the currencies of trading partners, exported goods and services become cheaper to those buying the products with competing…
Econintersect’s Economic Index declined to the lowest level since April 2010. The tracked sectors of the economy remain relatively soft with most expanding at the lower end of the range seen since the end of the Great Recession. Our economic index has been in a long term decline since late 2014. Our employment six month forecast…
The age of electrification across the transportation sector, the solar panel revolution, and Tesla’s battery gigafactory are igniting a battle for the cheapest battery. That will transform lithium into a boom-time mineral and the hottest commodity on the energy investor’s radar. It has been easy to take lithium for granted. This wonder mineral is the…
I recently read an article that attempted to dive into the nuances of trading the United States Oil ETF (USO) versus the United States Gasoline ETF (UGA). I suddenly realized that through all the nuanced comparisons the forest was being lost for the trees. Since at least 2009, UGA has greatly outperformed USO. In fact,…
