News
Biggest Week For Gold In 3 Months
While Silver had a better week than Gold (+5.4% vs 4.3%), Gold managed its biggest gain in three months as the Fed's QE-ness seemed to separate the precious metals from other asset classes. Oil underperformed relative to the USD's weakness (-2% on the week in DXY) managing only a 1.3% gain (and ending below $100). Silver and Gold have no managed four weeks in a row of gains as the latter has more... [Read more]
The Silent Anschluss: Germany Formally Requests That Greece Hand Over Its Fiscal Independence
It was tried previously (several times) under "slightly different" circumstances, and failed. Yet when it comes to taking over a country without spilling even one drop of blood, and converting its citizens into debt slaves, Germany's Merkel may have just succeeded where so many of her predecessors failed. According to a Reuters exclusive, "Germany is pushing for Greece to relinquish control over its... [Read more]
DAVOS 2012: WoRLD PoNZiNoMiC SuMMiT C0MMeMoRaTiVe FeBRuaRY CaLeNDaR (THe GReaT PoNZiNaMi)
Download: Click the image through to desired size and download. Read More →
Is High Yield Credit Over-Extended?
"Reach for yield" is a phrase that never gets old, does it? Whether it's the "why hold Treasuries when a stock has a great dividend?" or "if this bond yields 3% then why not grab the 7% yield bond - it's a bond, right?" argument, we constantly struggle with the 100% focus on return (yield not capital appreciation) and almost complete lack of comprehension of risk - loss of capital (or why the yield/risk... [Read more]
David J. Stern | Foreclosure King to Burger King, Stern buys into Five Guys Burgers
So, yesterday I got word that David J. Stern is buying up all the Five Guys Burgers in the country. My source in Fort Lauderdale tells me that attorney David J. Stern has rolled over his $Millions in foreclosure home profits and the cash he got up front from the Chardan 2008 China Acquisition Corp deal into at least 150 Five Guys Burger and Fries Franchise’s, will that be fries with your... [Read more]
Explaining Modern Finance And Economics Using Booze And Broke Alcoholics
Courtesy of reszatonline, who brings us the following allegory by way of Tim Coldwell, we are happy to distill (no pun intended) all of modern economics and finance in a narrative that is 500 words long, and involved booze and broke alcoholics: in other words everyone should be able to understand the underlying message. And while the immediate application of this allegory is to explain events... [Read more]
Debt Ceiling 101, Santelli Sounds Off
In an effort to reach the angry mob, CNBC's Rick Santelli goes all Sesame Street on the numbers behind the US Debt Ceiling Rise. Focusing for two minutes on what this practically means for every man, woman, child, and politician, the shouting Chicagoan points out that when the US breaches this new limit then the world's entire population will be on the hook for $2,346 each (and $52,409 per US person). Read More →
Fitch Gives Europe Not So High Five, Downgrades 5 Countries… But Not France
Festive Friday fun: FITCH TAKES RATING ACTIONS ON SIX EUROZONE SOVEREIGNS ITALY LT IDR CUT TO A- FROM A+ BY FITCH SPAIN ST IDR DOWNGRADED TO F1 FROM F1+ BY FITCH IRELAND L-T IDR AFFIRMED BY FITCH; OUTLOOK NEGATIVE BELGIUM LT IDR CUT TO AA FROM AA+ BY FITCH SLOVENIA LT IDR CUT TO A FROM AA- BY FITCH CYPRUS LT IDR CUT TO BBB- FROM BBB BY FITCH, OUTLOOK NEGATIVE And some sheer brilliance from Fitch: In... [Read more]
Is This Why US Rail Traffic Is So Strong?
Also, if we were Mexico (or is that East LA?) we would be nervous. Very, very nervous. On the other hand, long-opressed Mexican crude may soon be liberated. Read More →
Is Europe Starting To Derisk?
While the ubiquitous pre-European close smash reversal in EURUSD (up if day-down and down if day-up) was largely ignored by risk markets today (as ES - the e-mini S&P 500 futures contract - did not charge higher and in fact rejected its VWAP three times), some cracks in the wondrously self-fulfilling exuberance that is European's solved crisis are appearing. For the first day in a long time... [Read more]
Iran Turns Embargo Tables: To Pass Law Halting All Crude Exports To Europe
In what is likely a long overdue move, Iran has finally decided to give Europe a harsh lesson in game theory. Instead of letting Euro-area politicians score brownie points at its expense by threatening to halt imports and cut off the Iranian economy, the Iranian government will instead propose a bill calling for an immediate halt to oil deliveries to Europe. The move, with most reports citing the... [Read more]
Deutche Bank’s Ackermann on the LTRO
Guest Post: What’s Priced Into the Market Uptrend?
Submitted by Charles Hugh Smith from Of Two Minds What's Priced Into the Market Uptrend? Is the operative phrase here "priced to perfection"? With everything from stocks and bonds to 'roo bellies rising as one trade, it may be a good time to ask: what's priced into the market's uptrend? We say "bad news is priced in" when negative news is well-known and the market has absorbed that information via... [Read more]
Decoupling, Interrupted
Remember back in long distant memories (from a month ago) when all the chatter was for the US to decouple from Europe as the former (US) macro data was positive and a 'muddle-through' consensus relative to the European debacle took hold. Since 12/14, European markets have significantly outperformed US markets (both broadly speaking and even more massively in financials - which is impressive given... [Read more]
Goldman On GDP: Warns Of Q1 Weakness; Autos Added 0.3% To GDP
When commenting earlier on the GDP number we noted that the sellside brigade is about to start coming out with Q1 GDP "warnings" now that inventories will likely subtract between 0.5% and 1% from growth in the current quarter. Sure enough here is Goldman with the first warning saying that "The composition of growth was slightly negative for the Q1 outlook, in our view." That's not surprising. What... [Read more]
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