Stocks up, gold down.
Once again yesterday, investors demonstrated their preference for paper over the shiny yellow metal. The Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a slight 3-point gain, while gold tumbled about $17 an ounce.
This divergence between stocks and gold is not enormous, but it is telling. Most investors believe the credit crisis is a mere [...]
It hardly sounds like a groundbreaking realization from legendary investor and “Oracle of Omaha” Warren Buffett. Of course, there is the rustic way in which he phrases it. As New York Times’ chief mergers and acquisitions reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin quotes, “Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut.”
Just as a woman with sharp [...]
A new projection is now showing that roughly 1,000 US banks may fail because of the financial crisis that uncovered the toxic assets hidden on bank balance sheets.
According to Reuters:
“James Dunne, senior managing principal of Sandler O’Neill, said 300 to 400 banks could be seized this year, especially as institutions start to deal with deteriorating [...]
Talk about making a currency less attractive. Given all the concern about weaknesses in the structure of the euro under strong economic headwinds, and its foundation in the perhaps too loosely-aligned euro area, it seems like a bad time to make using large quantities of euro cash illegal. And yet, that is exactly what Greece [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sales at U.S. retailers rose more than expected in January,…
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China produced over 300 tons gold in 2009, a new world record in output. Already, for the past three years, China has been the world’s largest producer ahead of South Africa, and now the massive nation is also on the verge of becoming the world’s leading gold consumer.
According to Reuters:
“China’s gold output jumped 11.34 percent [...]
We’ve updated our popular Periodic Table of Commodity Returns, and the headline news should come as no surprise – 2009 was a complete turnaround from the sector’s 2008 performance.
Commodities (as measured by the Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index) rose 24 percent in 2009, the largest single-year increase since the early 1970s.
In 2008, only one of the 14 [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The United States imported $2.74 billion of “oil country…
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WASHINGTON POST (Reuters) – A U.S. trade panel gave final approval on Wednesday to…
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There still remains plenty of reason for concern about rising foreclosures in 2010 and 2011. This year the Obama administration launched the $75 billion taxpayer-financed Home Affordable Modification Program to help reduce foreclosures. The program provides up to four million US homeowners with loan modifications intended to lower monthly payments or reduce principal on mortgages. [...]
In a stunning change of consumer behavior, America’s Research Group found that shoppers stuck to cash on Black Friday. Only 26 percent of shoppers chose to use credit cards, while 35 and 39 percent used debit cards and cash, respectively.
According to Reuters, “Consumers shunning credit cards is a bad sign for retailers, since people who [...]
According to a recent Thomson Reuters/Ipsos poll, many Americans consider the US relationship with China the most important one it has. That’s despite uncertainty about whether or not that’s a good thing… most thought it was bad.
According to the write-up, “Thirty-four percent of Americans chose China as the ‘most important bilateral relationship’ — ahead of Britain [...]
With already deep and growing job losses it’s no real surprise that pay cuts are also becoming more common. According to the LA Times, an “index that measures growth in wages alone for private-sector workers inched up 1.4% … the smallest rise since the government began keeping statistics in 1975.” Similarly, in an all-time record [...]
“Those damned consumers and their whiny confidence readings!” the Feds must be cursing. Sentiment dropped to its lowest in three months, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary index. Apparently the consumers aren’t reading the papers. Don’t they know a recovery is underway?
After all, the S&P finished up for a second straight week, higher by [...]
In a move that surprised many traders, the International Monetary Fund ended up selling 200 tons of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for $6.7 billion this month. Many expected most, if not all, of the sale to go to China. However, about half the original amount of gold, roughly 200 tons, is still [...]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless…
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A great read on Reuters about America’s largest pension fund, CALPERS…
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A gauge of the U.S. economy’s prospects rose for a…
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As more Americans suffer unemployment they are falling behind on their most important debts, like mortgage payments. Reuters recently reported that a record 7.65 percent of all US mortgages are now 30 days past due, and falling behind can eventually lead to mortgage defaults.
Foreclosure always has a deeply personal side, but it’s even more difficult [...]
Like a lothario insistent on saying the right things, but with other, more scandalous, ideas in mind, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was on TV speaking again. He had more soothing words to relax the citizens while he continues to participate in the corruption of their future finances.
In a CNBC interview, Geithner stated that the US [...]
