Just as we began to have serious discussions regarding a Fed exit strategy, the economy gets hit with a series of very poor economic reports and we are hearing chatter about a double dip recession.
Today’s employment situation report showed growth in nonfarm payrolls of 54,000, about 120,000 fewer than were expected and that expectation was dropped this week due to other weak economic news. Namely Wednesday’s Institute For Supply Management’s (ISM) manufacturing index.
Amid a fresh wave of merger mania among the world’s exchanges, a new trend may be emerging that sees smaller as better. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, some entrepreneurs are hoping to do to stock offerings what local farmers’ markets do to grocery shopping. By creating a local stock market, Lancaster, Penn. is hoping to give companies the opportunity to raise money from local investors, rather than depending on institutionals and big banks with the creation of LanX. (more…)
I was in Washington D.C. the night President Obama announced the finding and killing of Osama bin Laden. I got the news alert just as I was going to bed and must admit, I was elated. As I was staying about two blocks from the White House, a couple hours later I was awakened by the collective partying in the streets.
No doubt, most people in this industry knew at least someone who died on 9/11 — the World Trade Center was home to exchanges, trading firms, brokers and technology companies. I know I did, and like most people, the horror of that day still haunts me. So although I didn’t join the party in front of the White House that night, I was there in spirit. Even if bin Laden had only become a symbol, as some say, to most Americans he was a potent symbol of terrorism that has infiltrated our everyday lives. So I thank President Obama and the brave Navy Seals and military forces who took this decisive action. (more…)
When silver dropped precipitously off of its near $50 high at the beginning of the month some people saw it as the bursting of a bubble. Other more constrained analysts saw it as a long overdue correction and or reaction to a reversal in the dollar and would wait for more information before giving the move more significance.
Yet there were others who saw the sharp rise in margin requirements by the CME Group as proof of a conspiracy. Margins did go up sharply but so had price and volatility making silver more risky and thus requiring more money to back positions.
A lot already has been written about today being the one year anniversary of the “Flash crash.” Most of the articles out there are throwing out a couple numbers and giving a perspective of whether changes made since then are having any sort of effect to prevent another “incident.” That’s fine, but sometimes it’s important to just go back and remember why this was a big deal. (more…)
The impact of the March 9.0 earthquake just off Japan has affected the derivatives business near and far. The tragedy of the lives lost is the saddest impact. But the tsunami’s destruction of the Fukushima nuclear power plant — and the radiation leakage — still is a threat to the country, as are the continuing earthquakes and aftershocks. Many of us in the media have used the term tsunami to describe market moves, but nothing compares to the devastating effects of a real one. (more…)
Jim Rogers recently did a radio interview in which the host asked him if he thought gold and silver were in a bubble. Rogers answer: Not yet. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t think it will happen, just that we’re not there yet. He does say he wouldn’t be surprised to see silver top $50 this year, but warns that if it goes above $100 this year then a collapse is possible. He hopes commodities continue their orderly march higher. If they do, the bubble may not actually pop until 2017, he says. (more…)
Is silver in a bubble? That’s the question everyone wants answered now, especially because it recently took out the 1980 high set when the Hunt brothers were attempting to corner the market. At that time, silver shot up in price in a matter of months only to collapse in an even shorter amount of time. Again, silver has shot up, more than doubling in price in a matter of less than nine months. (more…)
The Financial Times reported on Tuesday that Pimco significantly cut its exposure to U.S. Treasuries in its Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund. According to the story Pimco cut the funds exposure to 12% in January from 22% in December and 33% on Sept. 30.
Not sure what the significance is other than to confirm that Bill Gross is a good trader as Treasuries have dropped precipitously since August.
Jim Rogers was on CNBC last week to give his investment outlook going forward. As expected, he pushed the advantages of currencies and commodities, particularly foodstuffs right now, much to the chagrin of the CNBC hosts apparently. Instead of asking why he made those picks, the hosts practically berated him for not wanting to own equities. Rogers holds his own, though, explaining the fallacies being touted about farmers, energy and speculators. (more…)
