David Fry ETF Digest submits: Why the rally yesterday? The oil price declines are taking hold despite a passing hurricane and ongoing Iranian issues. The sell commodities/buy mainstream stocks play is a trade that?s gaining more traction. Add a slightly better than expected...
Toro submits: I was in the Calgary airport a few weeks ago on my way to the west coast when I wandered into a bookstore and picked up Garth Turner's book Greater Fool, a critique of the current Canadian housing market. A little ironic, I thought, given that the bookstore...
Chad Brand submits: Oil is down a couple of bucks and retailers are on fire. Sears Holdings SHLD jumped $9 per share yesterday? Remember everyone, rising gas prices did not result in plummeting retail sales and this subsequent drop does not mean Sears is all of the sudden going...
Tim Iacono submits: As expected, the Federal Reserve left short-term interest rates at the freakishly low level of just 2.0 percent earlier yesterday (that's minus 3.0 percent in real terms), noting once again that they expected inflation to moderate. Why they would expect inflation to moderate when real...
Tim Iacono submits: Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan wrote in yesterday's Financial Times of more bank failures to come and warned on the need to resist heavy-handed regulation in an effort to prevent the re-occurrence of what happened on his watch. Falling home prices are the critical factor...
James Quinn submits: The U.S. financial system appears to be crumbling. Politicians and Washington bureaucrats are scrambling to make it appear like they are actually doing something. When politicians and Washington bureaucrats scramble, that means that taxpayers will be getting screwed again. They are throwing our...
Option Dragon submits: Here is our earnings snapshot for the rest of the week. We built this list based on option liquidity volumes and have many useful data columns. Key by Option Dragon
Marc Courtenay submits: The Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee held a key interest rate steady on Tuesday in an effort to supposedly nurse the economy back to health. This is apparently to be done without further exacerbating inflation. The decision by the U.S. central bank leaves the benchmark...
eChristian Investing submits: Over the last few quarters, a declining dollar and difficult economic conditions in the U.S. have provided big benefits to companies with large international exposure. Companies which generate a large portion of their revenues from overseas have profited from favorable exchange rates and strong economies abroad. Meanwhile,...
Frank Rong submits: The best time to buy is when we have a negativity bubble. This great nation of ours is in a deep pessimism. We have not seen consumer sentiment this low for decades see following chart. click to enlarge by Frank Rong
Markos Kaminis (Wall St. Greek) submits: In a prelude to the Olympic Games, this week offers the challenge of the central banks, as the American Federal Reserve [FED], European Central Bank [ECB] and Bank of England [BOE] make key decisions on interest rates. The Olympics begin this...
Jordan Kahn submits: As expected, on Tuesday, the FOMC decided to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 2.00%. Here are some of the highlights from its statement: Economic activity expanded in the second quarter, partly reflecting growth in consumer spending and exports....
James Picerno submits: With the last of the June economic data in hand, it's time to update the CS Economic Index, which is calculated monthly. As our chart below shows, and anecdotal evidence suggests, the U.S. economy is weak and getting weaker. by James Picerno
Scott Rothbort submits: Housing prices continue to slump, albeit at a declining rate. Crude oil is down nearly 20% in less than a month. Copper, gold, corn, wheat all at multi month lows. Why are we so worried about inflation when the discussion ought to be focused on deflation?...
Gary Gordon submits: Deutsche Bank endeavored to create, promote and list a Buffett-like exchange-traded vehicle on a U.S. exchange. Through the Elements namesake, they called it the Morningstar Wide Moat Total Return ETN WMW. In case you're not familiar with the "moat" concept, companies that have...
Jeffrey Frankel submits: Quite a few economists are worried about moral hazard in financial markets. Vince Reinhart wrote a Wall Street Journal column rebuking his former bosses after the Bear Stearns BSC intervention: “…the Federal Reserve’s action can only be viewed as rewarding bad behavior.” Ken Rogoff recently wrote in...
James Hamilton submits: As Menzie explained on Monday, it isn't inflation. Since there still seems to be some controversy about this issue (e.g., Rich Karlgaard, Instapundit, and Reuters), let me take a stab at it as well. Rather than walk through the detailed...
Hickey and Walters Bespoke submit: We recently calculated the performance of all US stocks since the open following their most recent earnings reports. This takes out the initial reaction to earnings reports in after-hours and pre-market trading and highlights how investors have treated shares post earnings. As shown...
David Enke submits: The New York Times had an article yesterday about how the CEO at Freddie Mac FRE ignored the warnings signs of potential problems, in particular its financing of questionable loans that threatened its financial health. Not necessarily news, but it once again stresses the need for...
Jeff Miller submits: When does a good story get in the way of informing readers? Editors of all major publications face this decision each day. A recurring topic in my writing is how many bloggers play fast and loose with facts. The Internet gatekeepers push along the stories placing...