Today, Tencent delivered what many small businesses and startups in China have been eagerly waiting for: the country’s first Internet only bank. Launched by Tencent, one of China’s biggest Internet companies, the online bank aims to make it easier for small privately owned businesses to secure loans. This is all part of the government’s attempt…
Quick take: At the end of December the inflation-adjusted S&P 500 index price was 96% above its long-term trend, up from 94% above trend the previous month. About the only certainty in the stock market is that, over the long haul, over performance turns into under performance and vice versa. Is there a pattern to this…
Imagine if I’d told you, one year ago, that 2014 would include all of the following: soaring Treasury bond prices, a collapse in global commodity prices, a rise in civil unrest, the largest Ebola outbreak in history, and the viral transmission of Kim Kardashian’s hideously massive derriere. At the least, you would’ve guessed that the…
Cuba Without the Sun It drove Gerard Depardieu to relocate to Russia’s flat tax paradise (with its 13% flat tax, it is the geographically largest tax haven in the world), and no doubt contributed to the decision of countless young Frenchmen with entrepreneurial inclinations to leave for friendlier places. Mr. Hollande’s economic policies have led to noticeable growth of…
OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS March E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 -0.23%) this morning are down -0.26% and European stocks are down -1.06%, both at 2-week lows. Energy producers are leading the overall market lower after crude oil fell to a 5-1/2 year low. Also, Greek sovereign-debt concerns have undercut European stocks with Greece’s ASE Stock Index down over 4% to a…
Traditional pensions have been under attack for decades. Employers don’t want the open-ended liability and have been closing their plans to new hires and, in some cases, freezing benefits. But if you were lucky enough to be grandfathered into an existing pension plan, you could generally rest assured that your benefits, however modest they might…
The new year is not even a week old and already the volatility fireworks are off, as well as the continued commodity derisking. But while for now US stocks continue to be an island oasis in a turbulent global sea where GDP forecasts decline every single day, the same can not be said about the…
AUD/USD The AUD/USD pair initially tried to rally during the course of the week, but as you can see gave back all of the gains in ended up forming a hammer. The hammer sits just above the all-important 0.80 handle, so at this point in time I would be a little bit leery of selling this…
Another year rolls in as the secular bull market continues its march. We have seen some modest selling, although there has been little in the way of volume to back it up. The S&P is sitting on its 20-day MA having closed Friday on an indecisive ‘spinning top’ doji. The index to watch for 2015…
