Archive - Sep 24, 2014

The Canadian government has had to warn its citizens not to carry cash to the USA because the USA does not presume innocence but guilt when it comes to money...

"Are you confused by what is going on in the Middle East? Let me explain."

Thanks to a dizzying barrage of lies, mainstream media fear-mongering and a couple of beheadings, the Obama Administration finally achieved its long sought after war in Syria. The tactic that proved most effective in mobilizing the American public back into a shivering, post-9/11 fetal position, was the same tactic used by elites in the UK to convince Scotland against voting for independence. That tactic... is fear.

While it is easy, even sentimental, to pin what may (or may not) be a bubble, or as some call it - market - top on the recent liquidity and euphoria-soaking IPO of China's megaretailer Alibaba and its sliding chart since it broke for trading, a la what the Blackstone IPO did to the previous bubble, it is also wrong. The reality is that the attention of what few carbon-based investors and traders are left, is glued to very different chart: the one below from Deutsche Bank, showing the  between the S&P and the total assets owned by the Fed. Read on for the reason why.

With a 66% chance of default/devaluation implied by the Venezuelan credit market, BofA economist Francisco Roriguez sprung an unusual question on the struggling socialist nation's central bank during a routine visit - Can you show me your gold?

Day after day, the status-quo hugging, momentum-chasing talking heads that infest the world of investing will pile their clients' money into 'what is working' with little regard for 'value', risk (as defined by Howard Marks), or business uncertainty. Precious metals are sliding so 'sell' anything related to the precious metals industry. Biotech and software are surging so buy it all with both hands and feet... However, as the following two charts from Harvard Business Review suggest that strategy is in fact the absolute 'riskiest' approach to managing money as they break down the most (and least) uncertain industries in America.

Despite the strong consensus view that the U.S. is on a stronger economic footing than a year ago, and clearly working with stronger momentum than other major economies, The PunchLine's Abe Gulkowitz suggests the scary array of possible flashpoints in the U.S. and certainly overseas will continue to haunt policymakers and the markets.

"Real Housewives of Orange County" meets Wold of Wall Street - BBC's 'Traders: Millions By The Minute' 2-part documentary goes inside the competitive world of financial traders to meet the men and women who play the markets in London, New York, Chicago and Amsterdam. As The BBC describes, this show offers a rare, personal portrait of what life is like for the people who do this lucrative but relentless job, against a backdrop of non-stop news, globalised markets and the rise of ultra-fast computers capable of placing millions of trades at a time. We can only assume that Johnny-5 and his algorithmic friends refused to be part of this in-depth look at market participants.

The US economy and financial system are in worse condition than the Fed and Treasury claim and the financial media reports. Gold serves as a warning for aware people that financial and economic trouble are brewing. In the 21st century, US debt and money creation has not been matched by an increase in real goods and services. The implication of this mismatch is inflation. Without the price-rigging by the bullion banks, gold and silver would be reflecting these inflation expectations.

While we already know that "work is punished" in America, with almost 20% of Americans' disposable personal income made up of US government transfer payments (up from just 5% 60 years ago), it is perhaps no surprise that Bloomberg's Comfort Index shows the jobless in America haven't been this comfortable since 2007...

"In conclusion, this analysis finds little evidence of the permanent structural damage to the economy’s productive potential that many commentators see as the main culprit for the subpar recovery from the Great Recession..." and Surprise... "our model suggests that monetary policy played an important role in cushioning the blow from the financial crisis and in sustaining the recovery, which could have been significantly more disappointing without the aggressive actions undertaken by the Fed."

Having infamously "thrown in the bearish towel" late last year (must read), Hugh Hendry's Eclectica fund has not enjoyed the kind of money-printing melt-up euphoria he had hoped for in 2014. According to his August letter to investors, the fund is -10.9% year-to-date, shrinking the firm's performance since inception to a mere +0.7%. His positions are intriguing but his commentary can be summed with this sentence alone, "when central banks are actively pursuing a goal of higher prices the most rational course is to tenaciously remain invested in equities." And so he is...

Faux-pas, non? And these are the only airstrike-supporting Western "allies" America has in The Middle East?

Do you have a friend who consistently borrows 30% of his income each year, is currently in debt about six times her annual income, and wanted to take advantage of short-term interest rates so that he needs to renegotiate with his banker about once every six years? Well, if Uncle Sam is your friend you do!