Greece has committed to more austerity and arduous reforms to keep the euro, but success requires equally significant but unlikely changes from Germany. Since 2010, Greek taxes are up and government spending is down a combined 20 percent. As freshman macroeconomics would predict, that pushed down GDP by more than 25 percent and raised Greece’s…
Investors’ speculation is growing once again, with expectations high that the United States Federal Reserve Bank is moving closer to hiking interest rates. James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis branch of the Fed, said yesterday that the Fed might even consider a September rate increase. That helped to push the US Dollar broadly…
Investors’ speculation is growing once again, with expectations high that the United States Federal Reserve Bank is moving closer to hiking interest rates. James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis branch of the Fed, said yesterday that the Fed might even consider a September rate increase. That helped to push the US Dollar broadly…
You’ve probably seen the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky commercials where unsuspecting campers think it would be fun to mess with Sasquatch – an eight-foot tall, 400-lb. freak of nature. I like these commercials. What kind of idiot thinks they can get away with that? When you mess with Mother Nature, she knocks you out with a…
New York based The Travelers Companies, Inc. (TRV – Analyst Report) is one of the leading writer of auto and homeowners’ insurance through independent agents as well as writer of commercial U.S. property-casualty insurance. Travelers’ focus on reducing operating expenses and acquisition costs in order to improve underwriting margins bodes well for to have more competitively priced product…
In several posts over the past few years, I have written about the many constraints binding the housing market. Based on recent news, the situation has yet to improve and has probably worsened. This is a good time for a quick review because the Federal Reserve is preparing to hike interest rates even as the…
Mining stocks had a rough day yesterday to say the least. Popular mining ETF GDX fell almost 11% yesterday, hitting all-time lows. Does falling 10% or more happen very often? The above chart looks at Gold Bugs Index (HUI) and looks at times when it fell 10% or more in a single day. As you can see, this happened…
It is a bit too familiar, isn’t it? Greece received a new loan so it can service its debt to the official creditors. In exchange for the funds, of which practically none stay in Greece, the government has promised to carry out the reforms that the past few governments had agreed to but failed to implement….
Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) shares fell nearly -5% in pre-market trading after the company received a downgrade from Colin Langan at UBS. The analyst lowered his price target on the stock from $220 to $210. Langan doubts that Tesla will be able to keep up demand in the future and that Tesla’s vehicles will be in…
Novartis (NVS – Analyst Report) has a strong presence in the healthcare market across the world. This Switzerland based company has a presence in the field of oncology, neuroscience, ophthalmology and generics. However, like many of its peers, Novartis is facing generic competition and pricing pressure for some of the products in its pharmaceutical segment. Novartis’ blockbuster drug,…
