These two Great Graphics were created on Bloomberg. The first shows the price of crude oil (white line) and the JOC-ECRI index industrial metals index (yellow line). The metals included are steel, copper, aluminum, zinc, lead, tin and nickel. The two times series were indexed to levels seen twelve months ago. They both moved largely sides for the first…
The USD has put on quite a show on the forex markets. It does not look like the rise of the dollar is over as well, although it did stomp on the brakes for a bit recently. In contrast with its European and Japanese counterparts, the US central bank will raise interest rates most likely…
The most important asset for a young investor is time. If you are just starting out in the work world, the idea of investing may seem overwhelming. Your thoughts are most likely on your immediate needs, not decades ahead. While retirement seems far away – that far off point in the future is what is…
“Index shows economic growth accelerated in November”: This is the headline for today’s release of the Chicago Fed’s National Activity Index, and here are the opening paragraphs from the report: Led by improvements in production-related indicators, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) rose to +0.73 in November from +0.31 in October. Two of the…
Rite Aid’s shares surged after the company reported excellent results and raised its guidance. As the turnaround appears to be back on track on now, shares are likely to continue to move higher. Headquartered in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, Rite Aid Corporation (RAD) is the third largest retail drugstore in the U.S., based on revenues. The company has…
“In capital markets, price is set by the most panicked seller at the end of a trading day. Value, which is determined by cash flows and assets, is not. In this environment, the chaos is so extreme, the panic selling so urgent, that there is almost no possibility that sellers are acting on superior information….
“We have to do something with these Belarussian rubles,” exclaims one Belarussian as she shops to turn worthless rubles (BYR) into physical assets. As AFP reports, The Belarussian currency was dragged down by the slide of the Russian ruble last week, leading authorities to impose draconian measures, forbid price increases even for imported goods, and warn people against…
Last week an acquaintance reported on the ten biggest reputation disasters of 2014- City of Ferguson, Flight MH370, Ray Rice, Bill Cosby and so on…. The focus remains on the negative under the premise that “bad news sells.” I’m tired of these stories. They serve no purpose other than to attract “eyeballs” and perpetuate negativity….
Going the Other Way Even while newspaper headlines are still full about the ruble’s panic sell-off last week, the ruble has actually risen by 39% from last week’s intra-day lows near 80 to the dollar over the past five trading days (1 ruble was 0.0125 dollars at one point on December 16, while at the time of writing early…
Janet Yellen and her Federal Reserve board of augurers might as well have spilled a bucket of goat entrails down the steps of the mysterious Eccles Building as they parsed, sliced, and diced the ramifications in altering their prior declaration of “a considerable period” (that is, before raising interest rates), vis-à-vis the simpler new imperative,…
