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About Jeffrey P. Snider

Give us a call at 1-888-777-0970 or via email at info@alhambrapartners.com to discuss how his unique approach informs our investment decisions. We'd be happy to discuss our investment strategies and provide a complimentary portfolio review.

Korea’s Booming, Except It’s Not

By |2018-01-25T16:15:26-05:00January 25th, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Back in October, the Bank of Korea raised its economic outlook for the country. The central bank’s economic models foresaw rising fortunes, leading them toward a central tendency of 3% growth. At that level, Korea’s economy would be growing at the fastest rate in three years (what happened in between?). It was as much a nod to the idea of [...]

The Dismal Boom

By |2018-01-24T16:46:48-05:00January 24th, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

There is a fundamental assumption behind any purchasing manager index, or PMI. These are often but not always normalized to the number 50. That’s done simply for comparison purposes and the ease of understanding in the general public. That level at least in the literature and in theory is supposed to easily and clearly define the difference between growth and [...]

Housing Resales And The Reluctance To Sell

By |2018-01-24T12:12:17-05:00January 24th, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes, or resales, declined sharply in December 2017. Falling 3.6% from November (revised lower), that merely suggests what other data has been pointing toward. The hurricanes that hit the South caused distortions in economic conditions, bunching up activity into especially October and November. The lower estimates for December appear [...]

What If The Boom Doesn’t Boom?

By |2018-01-23T18:16:28-05:00January 23rd, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

As most people know, the Kansas City Fed has been holding its annual symposium in Jackson, WY, for a very long time. Supposedly a draw for Paul Volcker’s fly fishing hobby when he was Chairman, the conference came to include heavyweights on a regular basis. Most of them, especially those in the early years, however, were duds. It wasn’t until [...]

Central Bank Transparency, Or Doing Deliberate Dollar Deals With The Devil

By |2018-01-23T15:40:20-05:00January 23rd, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The advent of open and transparent central banks is a relatively new one. For most of their history, these quasi-government institutions operated in secret and they liked it that way. As late as October 1993, for example, Alan Greenspan was testifying before Congress intentionally trying to cloud the issue as to whether verbatim transcripts of FOMC meetings actually existed. Representative [...]

For All That Seems To Go Right, What’s Always Missing?

By |2018-01-22T19:33:34-05:00January 22nd, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

On April 29, 2011, the US benchmark oil price (WTI) surged above $113 per barrel. It wasn’t just American oil prices, either, as other benchmarks around the world were on a huge run. It was the highest for crude oil in three years, going back to the weeks immediately following Lehman. At that price, more so the parabolic trajectory, it [...]

COT Green: DXY’s Future(s)

By |2018-01-22T16:53:08-05:00January 22nd, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

As with other prices, if we are interested in what’s going on with dollar exchange values (not be confused with eurodollars, the shadow conditions behind everything) we have to start with the futures market. Unlike UST’s or WTI, the one standing for the dollar index, or DXY in this case, isn’t particularly massive. That may be an unfair comparison given [...]

The Shadow on the Falling Dollar

By |2018-01-22T13:11:33-05:00January 22nd, 2018|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

On November 29, 2009, the government of Dubai shocked the world with a statement acknowledging trouble with its debt load. Dubai World, a government-owned conglomerate that was the conduit for the country’s oil-fueled debt extravaganza that had literally transformed the nation, asked for a “stand still” from creditors in order to extend maturities until May 30, 2010. It came while [...]

Housing Construction, Hurricanes or No?

By |2018-01-19T18:55:24-05:00January 19th, 2018|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The August appearance of Hurricane Harvey has made economic analysis a little more challenging than usual. That it was followed closely by Hurricane Irma only compounded the difficulty. What we have observed, however, is pretty much what we expected. In several economic categories and among various statistics, there was a rush of activity in October that in most places continued [...]

What About 2.62%?

By |2018-01-19T17:32:45-05:00January 19th, 2018|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

There’s nothing especially special about 2.62%. It’s a level pretty much like any other, given significance by only one phrase: the highest since 2014. It sounds impressive, which is the point. But that only lasts until you remember the same thing was said not all that long ago. Back last March, the 10-year yield had then, like now, broke above [...]

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