Author Archives: Darren Marchal

Data Driven Or Driven Data

There can be little doubt that data releases rather than experience or intuition are driving the economic conversation. This is perhaps a function of the disconnection that many people feel about an economy that they no longer understand. Rather than trusting their own eyes or their own gut to form an opinion, it’s much easier…

Gold Will Have To Prove Itself Now

Is the end of the super cycle in commodities in sight? It seems too soon to come out with a conclusion like that, although things were moving along swiftly over the past few days in a few markets. Oil and gold got the most attention, but many investors overlooked copper which dipped below 3 dollars….

Santa and the search engine

Spoiler alert: This article contains suggestions that Santa is not as real as many would like, but that he may be more real than he’s ever been. One of the occupational hazards of being an omnipresent corporation with a “Don’t Be Evil” motto and the goal of organizing the world’s information is that sometimes the…

Interest Rates Have Nowhere To Go But Up?

Earlier this week Daniel Druger and Liz McCormick wrote an article for Bloomberg entitled: “One Hundred Years Of Bond History Means Bears Destined To Lose.” The crux of the article is contained within the following paragraph: “With the longest-dated Treasuries now yielding less than half the 6.8 percent average over the past five decades, it’s not hard…

Shares Of Bluebird Bio Surge 60% At Market Open On Positive Resul

Shares of Bluebird Bio (BLUE) jumped  60% on the open after it had announced that one if its drugs, Lentiglobin BB305, which utilizes gene therapy, was able to allow patients to become transfusion free. Bluebird Bio is a biotechnology stock that is developing treatments for rare genetic disorders. This result of allowing patients to become tranfusion-free is…