Archive - Jan 2014

With China increasingly in the news involving some new diplomatic or geopolitical escalation, a new territorial claim, the launch of a brand new aircraft carrier, or just general chatter of military tensions surrounding the aspirational reserve currency superpower, it is time for yet another update of the complete "military and security developments involving the people’s republic of China", courtesy of the annual report to Congress discussing precisely this issue.

This is who we are pinning the hopes and dreams of Obamacare's success on?

What if you could carry and exchange gold in the exact same manner as you do with the dollar bills in your wallet?

But fear not, dear poor people of the world, for Lloyd Blankfein, Mark J. Carney, Mario Draghi, Haruhiko Kuroda, Christine Lagarde, Jacob Lew, Shimon Peres, Larry Fink, David Cameron, Shinzo Abe, Marissa Meyer, and many others are there fighting for you. Fighting all the way...

Retiring workers? Really?

At these levels of bullish sentiment, fewer bulls isn't a contrarian signal but a sign that there are fewer investors willing to push the market higher.

The first installment of our series on U.S. real estate by correspondent Mark G. focused on residential real estate. In Part 2, Mark explains why the commercial real estate (CRE) market is set to implode. The fundamentals of demographics, stagnant household income and an overbuilt retail sector eroded by eCommerce support only one conclusion: commercial real estate in the U.S. will implode as retail sales and profits weaken. 

Fod Gold to even realign based on the Fed’s actions, it would need to be north of $1,800. That’s a full 30% higher than where it trades today.

Curious which are all the various import trade routes which China uses to satisfy its relentless thirst for oil? Here they are...

Pure speculation, but interesting information. 

This morning's apparent U-turn in US-Iran relations - when the US demanded the UN rescind Iran's invite to the Syrian peace conference having somewhat instigated their invitation in the first place - is a little confusing for some. However, as OilPrice's Joao Peixe points out, reports are emerging that Iran and Russia are in talks about a potential $1.5 billion oil-for-goods swap that is sure to upset the powers that be in Washington.

"As has been well documented, I smoked pot as a kid, and I view it as a bad habit and a vice, not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life. I don’t think it is more dangerous than alcohol,” Obama told the weekly magazine. The president said pot was actually less dangerous than alcohol “in terms of its impact on the individual consumer.”

Despite record levels of unemployment across Europe (most specifically among the youth), record high (and surging) levels of loan delinquencies, and collapsing credit creation, the leaders of the EU continue to peddle their own brand of dis-information and willful blindness. While UKIP's Nigel Farage tongue-lashings are normally enough, EU's Barroso this morning unleashed the following:

*EU'S BARROSO SAYS ECONOMIC GROWTH 'SLOWLY RETURNING'; SAYS EU AT TURNING POINT IN CRISIS

However, as the following chart of earnings estimated for European firms shows, there is absolutely none, zero, nada sign on a 'turning point' and, as we have noted previously, unless the EUR weakens significantly, Europe will rapidly dip back into re-re-recession once again.

Tech isn’t exactly booming, but that hasn’t kept “valuations” of tech startups from being pushed into the stratosphere, for the benefit of an elite club.

Next time you cry over your paycheck or you scrimp and scrape to find the extra few dollars to finish the month, remember that admittedly money doesn’t grow on trees…