Archive - Jan 2010 - Blog entry

Mom and Pop investors aren't buying stocks ...

Chavez threatens speculators with military force, currency crises will go global, Af-Pak war for control of Central Asian energy, Secret negotiations on health care anti-democratic, China is #1 exporter, 'domestic extremism' (wtf!) team investigates Climategate, California request bailout.

Following the empirical evidence that banks share price moves are outstripping their fundamental performance, I have decided to run the same analysis with REITs that have beat the S&P 500.

Going from a “V” Market to an inverted "V", or lambda market. Keep an itchy trigger finger on your mouse. The third in a series of seven on The Mad Hedge Fund Trader’s Annual Asset Allocation Review. (SPX), (EEM),(EWZ), (RSX), (PIN), (FXI), (EWY), (EWT), (IDX)

While some China Bears are busy publicizing prediciton of an utter Dubai or Enron-like collapse in China, Beijing is actually in the process of rebalancing its economy and an overheated real estate market. And gold is poised to benefit the most from this shift.

Big devaluation in Venezuela over the weekend. The locals knew about it in advance. The Black Market was trading at 3X's the official rate.

Does it matter? I think it might. It is just more of that 'sovereign risk" story that keeps popping up.

excerpted from The Stamford Review, 2009: Volume Two, "Mortgages, Finance Markets, and the Imperative of Growth" by Hugh Kelly

Rising interest rates, stubbornly high unemployment, no credit, and large chunks of the economy dead in the water are not what economic booms are made of. The second in a series of seven on The Mad Hedge Fund Trader’s Annual Asset Allocation Review.

Let's talk dollars and cents ...

Thoughts on Japan from John Maynard Keynes. This economist is more powerful today than he was when he was alive. I wonder what he would really say about the Nikkei. Also some interesting information from the CIA. I am always looking for 'clues'.

A story of how the "vampire squid" caved and offered to help North America's most powerful union...

The eclectic set of topics discussed in this week's link's: Hank Paulson's bazooka, the debt to GDP point of no return, Wall Street bonus deferral, the toxic twins Fannie and Freddie, and of course prisoners.

Those of you who have all but given up hope a the recovery for the U.S. labor market should read this brief comment very carefully...

D'Oh ...

The December nonfarm payroll losses make another stimulus package a sure thing. More deficits and taxes to follow. A new interstate, anyone?