Blogs

In the 1980s, in Soviet Russia, a few times a year, my class walked to a movie theater, where we were shown a documentary. Attendance was mandatory. The documentaries were different but the themes were the same: to the accompaniment of patriotic music, we learned about the righteousness of socialism, the greatness of Mother Russia, and the intelligence and foresight of our great leaders.

True to form for 2009, anyone trading with a close eye on the fundamentals is getting a major hurt put on, while buying any dip to minor support, such as the 50 day MA, remains as viable a strategy as the most sophisticated SPARC assembly language-optimized HFT algorithm. The order has come down from above, once again today (as it did yesterday), that sellers ain't welcome.

The short answer is...

Yes, probably.

The dollar will go way up the next time the stock market crashes or during the next leg of the financial crisis . . . but will tank long-term.

Unlike those employees at Simmons who lost their jobs, private equity pension fund managers and the GPs they invest and co-invest with are sleeping easy, counting the millions they collect in bonuses and fees as they profit by loading up the debt of companies they acquire.

The SSTF shortfall for September came to $4.13 billion. A $10 billion swing from 2007. This is the third month in a row of this red ink.The day of reckoning is coming sooner than is forecast. Japan is in trouble over the same problem. We are following them down the same path.

What we do know is this: compressed prices can lead to explosive moves in either direction.

Fed Economist Says American Banks Went Bankrupt in 1982, The Fed Hid Their Insolvency, Supported Mexican Dictator, and Nursed Banks on "Fat Spread" . . .

Project Mayhem reviews the most important financial and geopolitical news of the past week and takes a look at the week ahead.

Senators Schumer and Cornyn made it clear they support a big tax credit for home buyers. There is no stopping this train with these two on board. What might it mean?

Brazilian stocks rallied, along with the nation's currency, as investment prospects brighten on the news that Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, making the Bovespa the world's best-performing major index last Friday.
Rising commodity prices this year have led investors to buy emerging market assets where the economies tend to be more commodity-dependent. Both emerging markets and industrial metals group are outperforming U.S. equities so far this year.

The news hasn't changed, but maybe the reaction to the news has. In the end, it is the same story as "the trend is your friend until it ends".

Keep an eye on what is going on in modern Greece, because I can assure you that it's a reflection of what is going on across the world. The level of angst is unprecedented and politicians better quit the rhetoric and start putting citizens first.

Experts say that the economy will not recover until trust is restored.

So how do we restore trust?

How well has the Federal Reserve performed?

Let's take a look...