Weekly Economic and Market Review
“We don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting.” Ben Bernanke at his press conference last week following the FOMC meeting. That was – by far – the most important statement to come out of the post FOMC press conference last week. Bernanke finally had to admit that he .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Does Ben Bernanke have access to a Bloomberg? I ask that because he is apparently unaware that the dollar index is down for 9 straight days, gold is hitting new highs and silver is approaching cult status. He said at his press conference that a strong and stable dollar was in the best interests of .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
I’m not sure what possessed investors to re-embrace the warmth of the bull market last week but it surely wasn’t good news on the US economy. Or good news from Japan. Or good news from the Middle East. Or good news from Europe. Or good news on the housing market. The ability to ignore the .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
Was that it? Is the great stock market correction of 2011 already over? Libya is in the throes of a revolution that threatens to spread to the more important parts of the oil producing world and the slippery stuff can’t hold above $100? All this geopolitical turmoil and gold can’t even make a new high? .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
The economic reports released in the Christmas week continued the recent trend of stronger data. In particular, consumers have been leading the way as shown by several reports last week. The Goldman and Redbook weekly retail reports both showed strength going into the holiday with the year over year change now in the range of .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
See if you can guess what economy produced the following year over year changes: GDP growth rate +56% Personal Income +4.35% Savings Rate +23.91% Fixed Investment +5.37% Steel Output +10.32% Business Sales +8.86% Durable Goods Sales +12.2% Factory Shipments +7.21% Retail Store Sales +7.31% Factory Orders +17.18% Exports +12.58% You wouldn’t know it from all .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
It’s not exactly the Newsweek indicator but anyone with contrarian instincts had to note the cover story of Barron’s this weekend, Bears Beware!, with at least a modicum of concern. The story concerns the magazine’s recent Big Money Poll survey of money managers who it turns out are – surprise! – bullish on stocks. I’m .. read more
Weekly Economic and Market Review
If the goal of Ben Bernanke’s Jackson Hole speech and the recent FOMC statement was to weaken the dollar, well mission accomplished. Since Bernanke laid out the Fed’s options for creating more inflation on August 27th, the US dollar index has dropped 5% and all manner of risky assets have moved higher when measured in .. read more
