Alright, now I'm starting to get worried. No, not about the late Friday S&P downgrade of France, Austria and a host of lesser European countries' sovereign debt. That was merely an acknowledgement of something that was obvious to any sentient being long before Friday. How in the world could France retain its AAA rating while the US, with complete control [...]
With the US economy showing decent growth while the rest of the world is showing slow or no growth, currency traders are selling Euros and buying Dollars. As a result, the Euro is trading at intermediate term lows while the Dollar is hitting new highs. In recent months, equities and the dollar have gone from a nearly perfect inverse correlation to having practically [...]
The focus of the early part of 2012 is no doubt on central banks. In Europe, calls for the ECB to "monetize" troubled sovereign debt and rescue European banks are still in a loud crescendo. Back across the Atlantic, the Federal Reserve has just paved the way for QE 3.0 with its very public release of a research paper detailing [...]
This morning, yields on Spanish bonds are at their lowest level since March (see chart below). Spain just held a strong auction, where it sold twice as much debt as it planned. The rally is spreading across Europe. Short-term yields are plunging. Very bullish action. While the Bank of England holds rates unchanged and continues with quantitative easing policy.
Good news for eco-friendly drivers. Tariffs on imported sugar-based Brazilian ethanol were allowed to expire at the end of last year. Even better news for those against wasteful government spending:. Subsidies and tax credits for US corn growers and ethanol producers were also allowed to expire. From The Economist: Import tariffs and tax credits that have long sheltered ethanol distilled [...]
And so another year has passed into the history books - the older I get, the faster they seem to go - and investors must again try to position their portfolios for a profitable year. It hasn't been easy to do the last few years and this year promises to be just as challenging. The usual suspects that made last [...]
Looks like we dodged the worst of it. Although on very low volume, the S&P 500 held support at the 1200-1220 level before breaking the 50 and 200-day moving averages. In the very short-term, the S&P 500 crossed and subsequently held a clearly defined trend line outlined below. Although we'll probably correct slightly back to the 200 day, the moving [...]
Welcome to 2012. While the S&P 500 was essentially flat last year, our clients enjoyed their third year of out-performance, which judging by the results of many of our peers, is saying a lot. We will shortly have our final numbers available to registered users only, so click here to register. Of the markets I track, Feeder Cattle was the [...]
By John L. Chapman, Ph.D. Canton, OH January 6, 2012 Later this month the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee holds the first of eight regularly scheduled meetings to discuss ongoing monetary policy with respect to both short term interest rate and balance sheet targets, as well as how best to support longer term growth. Well into his second four year term, Chairman [...]
Thinking Things Over January 3, 2012 Volume II, Number 1: Predictions for 2012: Obama Loses, 2.5% Growth in the U.S., Eurotrouble, No War with Iran, 2013 Warnings By John L. Chapman, Ph.D. Canton, Ohio Used to the conditions of a capitalistic environment, the average American takes it for granted that every year business makes something new and better accessible to him. Looking [...]
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