Archive - Jul 23, 2010 - Blog entry

This week the S&P 500 was up 7.3% for the month, corporate earnings have been looking good, retail sales inched up last week, the CPI is low, interest rates are low, Dr. Bernanke is ready to pump money into the economy if things go awry, most European banks passed their stress test, and we've got a new financial markets regulation bill which will save us from economic collapse. What's to worry?

For all you pension buffs, a comparison of CPPIB and PSPIB FY 2010 results...

Here's the scary part ...

China is not a black swan, because a black swan is a rare, significant, and unpredictable event. However, the consequences of what is transpiring in China and Japan are for the most part predictable (especially if I am writing about it). We don’t know when they will play out, but they are predictable.

So, a bank that is insolvent nearly two times over is found to have passed the European bank stress tests. Exactly what does it take to fail!!! Let's dig in and find out, shall we.

Yes. You're being hoodwinked, Bamboozled, and Lied to. Let's take a common sense look at the parameters and criteria published concerning these (no) stress tests...

This is turning into a year when the world’s least liquid, most untradeable countries offering minimal amounts of public information and disclosure, are bringing in the best returns, shutting most of us out. The mainstream BRIC countries are becoming increasingly crowded. “Frontier” or “pre-emerging” markets are the place to be.

S&P 500 futures PowerZones