EconMatters's blog

The market has screamed loud and clear what the tangible results of the QE3 program are even without ever being implemented.

Some positive indicators have prompted at least one article at Forbes to predict $8.00 natural gas by "the approaching winter."

Consumers are paying an easy $35 dollars per barrel over what they would otherwise dole out for a barrel of oil if fund managers didn`t use the benchmark futures contracts as their own personal ATMs.

Netflix stocks surged more than 21% in one week primarily due to an upbeat Facebook update from the company's CEO.

The Great Recession and the poor job market has stressed the middle class to its limit.   However, the seeds have long been sown from the poor fiscal and monetary policy implementation.

ECB is running out of options. Germany can't afford any more bailouts.  Euro is overvalued compared to the dollar.

Debate between Krugman and the CFR rages on in round 2 on whether currency devaluation created the Icelandic Miracle or Mirage.  

While conflicts within and with the Middle East region are still among the top global risks, the paradigm has definitively shifted to China and Europe.

A confluence of factors is forming a perfect storm for the oil market to face some major headwinds for the next 5 years. 

Traversing roads that seem like roads in some third world countries, I have to ask where is all the money going?

Darker days ahead from the long deleveraging process that just got started in Europe.  

PIIGS are only the beginning.

Spain marks the fourth bailout during this Euro Zone debt crisis saga, after Ireland, Portugal and Greece, and may need more aid, while Italy is looking good to be the fifth bailout candidate

Instead of a "botched" event, the Facebook IPO is actually a total success by Wall Street standard, since concerted effort appeared to have been made  to ensure an "acceptable" return for the insiders.

 A recent IMF working paper predicts a permanent doubling of real oil prices over the coming decade.  However, the "peak oil labor" could be just enough to tip the scale for the doubling in oil price scenario a lot sooner than year 2022.