Archive - 2011 - Blog entry

Retail traders are notoriously wrong at picking market direction/tops and bottoms. Most retail traders very naturally seem to adopt a counter-trend stance and this offers very accurate signals for individuals looking to trade against this group. This daily report is designed to help traders focus their efforts on higher probability pairs.

It is apparent to me that the factors that underlie the causes of our boom-bust cycle still exist. Nothing has changed on the policy front that would do anything to revive the economy. If we could spend our way to prosperity, then countries like Zimbabwe would be rich.

Moody's is taking a closer look at states' unfunded pension liabilities..

More than any other man, John D. Rockefeller changed the face of American business. His focus on cost cutting, cash flow and balance sheet strength, combined with his unbridled ambition to control not only every level of oil production at his company, but indeed the entire oil industry itself, wrote the playbook by which all multinational corporations operate today.

Earlier today a friend hit me up on bbm from the bar at JFK Airport to tell me the bartender was giving him stock tips. If the guy's working the bar, the airport bar, surely he's an expert stock jockey, no?

If nothing else disturbs you while you buy your NFLX today – that last one should. Rich folks in an industrialized nation trying to go to the theater in their limo and being attacked by an angry mob.

Sarky and Jamie in the ring...

Expect dire reactions by financial markets when the US debt/GDP ratio soon tops 100%. With the current spending trajectory and the new tax compromise, total debt will reach $23 trillion by 2020, or some 160% of today’s GDP, 1.6 times the WWII peak. China and Japan might even demand a retreat from our $150 billion a year commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan to protect their bond holdings. Who were the real big spenders?

With the release of the FCIC report we're seeing a new wave of reasons (excuses) for the Financial Crisis. Somehow, no one seems to place any blame on the rating agencies and the lazy institutional investors who outsourced their due diligence to them. Enough of that BS. What the report should have said is "Here's a simple rule: If you can't analyze a security yourself DON'T FREAKING BUY IT!"

Everyone is buying gold, right? That's why the price is so high, right?

Sorry, it's a little bit late for canned soup...

Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!

Shipping is the backbone of the global economy. The industry is not looking so good.

The market continued to rally today as the Fed voted to keep QE2 going (something about the economy being shitty, so rally on), bankers at Davos...