EC Grandma Got

Forbes had a very short article titled High Yield Grandma which offers a brief profile of a woman who has overcome a few setbacks and has a very substantial investment portfolio worth $3 million. As the clever title implies she focuses on dividend stocks. Based on the above paragraph there is nothing too unusual about her strategy….

Great Graphic: Euro And Brent

This Great Graphic, created on Bloomberg, shows how well the euro (white line) appears to have tracked the price of the front-month Brent futures contract. One of the reasons this week proved so challenging for foreign exchange traders is that this apparent relationship broke down.  Oil prices fell around 10% while the euro actually advanced against the…

November 2014 Producer Price Inflation Continues To Be Moderate

The Producer Price Index inflation continued to be slight. In all events, the intermediate processing continues to show a moderation of inflation in the supply chain. The PPI represents inflation pressure (or lack thereof) that migrates into consumer price. The BLS reported that the headline Producer Price Index (PPI) finished goods prices (now called final demand prices) year-over-year inflation…

Italy Coming Closer & Closer To Leaving EU

  In Italy, there are again serious protests against austerity measures. A major general strike has paralyzed Italy as public life style has simply collapsed. Nationally, 54 demonstrations were held around the country.Citizens are protesting against the austerity measures and labor market reforms the government has been compelled to implement because of Brussels.The German Chancellor…

Yet Another New Phase For The New Normal

The Treasury market’s implied inflation forecast continues to fade, dipping to 1.70% yesterday (Dec. 11) — close to a four-year low, based on the yield spread for the nominal 10-year Note less its inflation-indexed counterpart. The slide looks worrisome, but appearances can be deceptive at a time when US economic growth is holding steady if…

Morning Call For December 12, 2014

OVERNIGHT MARKETS AND NEWS March E-mini S&Ps (ESH15 -0.40%) this morning are down -0.53% at a 1-month low and European stocks are down -1.34% at a 3-week low as a drop in crude oil to a 5-1/3 year low undercuts energy producers. Chinese economic concerns also weighed on stocks after Nov China industrial output grew less than expected. The plunge…