It has been a few weeks since we took a hard look at initial unemployment claims. There hasn’t been much reason to, since they seem to exist in a steady state universe, almost never deviating from the growth path they have been on for the past 5 years. But the steady state universe theory has…
CalPERS (California Public Employees’ Retirement System) posted a profit of just 2.4% for its fiscal year (which ended on June 30) that was well below its 7.5% investment target. This is illustrating the crisis emerging in pensions. Even the pensions that were funded are now underfunded because they counted for so long on 8%…
We expect Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG to beat expectations when it reports second-quarter 2015 on Jul 21 after the markets close. Last quarter, it posted a positive earnings surprise of 7.48%. Meanwhile, the company has beaten earnings estimates in all the trailing four quarters and has an average positive earnings surprise of 7.77%. Let’s see how things…
The Greek debt crisis offers another illustration of Wall Street’s powers of persuasion and predation, although the Street is missing from most accounts. The crisis was exacerbated years ago by a deal with Goldman Sachs, engineered by Goldman’s current CEO, Lloyd Blankfein. Blankfein and his Goldman team helped Greece hide the true extent of its…
With a new bailout plan agreed upon and further austerity measures on the horizon, it looks as if a Greek exit from the EU may have been averted for the time being. Nevertheless, there are a few things that can be learned from the recent Eurozone situation and talks of a possible Grexit. Looking Back…
It is cool here in Toronto. A welcome change from Athens, Madrid and Paris. The markets were cool yesterday too. The Dow rose 70 points. Nothing to get excited about, one way or another. We are sitting in the bar at the Hazelton Hotel. We always thought of Canadians as being a bit more reserved…
The Bank of Canada admitted on Wednesday that Canada was in Recession. Well sort of. Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz is afraid to speak the “R-Word”. Instead, Poloz phrased it this way: “Real GDP is now projected to have contracted modestly in the first half of the year.“ Shades of Voldemort Poloz further went…
Source neurope.eu All parties have finally come to an agreement which was meant to be a solution for the crisis in Greece. That is, if you believe pumping more money in a bottomless pit can be described as a ‘sustainable’ solution. More money will be forked over to Greece, and the European Central…
Over the past week most of my core market health indicators improved. However, none of them moved enough to change the core portfolio allocations. This is a little discouraging given the fact that the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has rallied sharply. The overall picture I’m seeing is a thinning market that is trying to recover….
We’ve all seen Mad Men, and many of us long for that lifestyle. The flash cars, the sharp suits and the business success. When it comes to both personal success and business success, appearance is undoubtedly important. But, what if your budget doesn’t quite stretch to the Mad Men lifestyle? Many of us are in…
