Weekly Market Update
Market Action Talk of M&A activity early in the week elevated markets as GE’s attempt to acquire Alstom and Pfizer’s bid for AstraZeneca dominated headlines. Stronger than expected data on Pending Home Sales also worked to move markets up Major economic data...
A Review of the Most Important Global Events in April by Monthly Barometer
Despite inflation surging in countries like Brazil and Russia, the global economic environment remains deflationary. Leaving aside the big deflationary trends such as aging, weak aggregate demand, stagnating real wages, etc., China is a big concern as its growth...
Prudential Banking: Giving Credit Where Credit is Due
Early this morning I was listening to the announcement about Deutsche Bank’s (DB) profits, which came in “better than expected” and hence its stock price gained more than 2% for the day. It is always a pleasure to honor and recognize prudential banking professionals,...
Weekly Selections from Monthly Barometer
5 insightful op-eds or articles to help make sense of today’s world Martin Wolf, “A More Equal Society Will Not Hinder Growth” (Financial Times, April 24, 2014 – metered paywall) This is yet another review of Piketty’s much celebrated book (“Capital in the 21st...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action Equity markets started the week strong as a supposed agreement to deescalate tensions between Russia and Ukraine cooled risk concerns and paired with strong earnings reports, particularly from the technology sector, extended last week's gains. However...
The Great Divorce: Dystopia Built by Delusions and Divergence Cries out for a Devolution
This commentary serves as an initial attempt to explain the financial crisis, the current market upswing, and the potential brewing crisis which in a few years time could change the economic landscape for generations to come. Here is the thesis of this commentary: So...
Weekly Selections from Monthly Barometer
5 insightful op-eds or articles to help make sense of today’s world Adair Turner, “The High-Tech, High-Touch Economy” (Project Syndicate, April 16, 2014) The financial pundit observes that we live in a hi-tech virtual world in which the value of the most physical...
Can you Hear the Oceanic Thunder? Moral Hazard Reigns Supreme in the Land of Plenty
Just a few days ago an event took place in Australia that received very little coverage. Fearing a run on a bank the Australian government guaranteed deposits up to $1 million AUD (Australian dollars)! How the government plans to pay for that is another story. Maybe...
Weekly Market Update
Market Action The US equity markets rebounded this week to effectively erase prior week’s losses in all areas save for technology. The Dow gained 381.79 points for the week while the S&P and NASADQ, both registered gains of 49.16 and 95.79 respectively. Technology...
Senor, Is this About Production of a Show by Means of Placebo Effects? Market Trajectory, The Greek Bond Oversubscription, the Failed Chinese Bond Auction, and Mr. Nitup
What a week! It had everything. The Greek bond offering was oversubscribed four times while the Chinese bond auction failed! This is great, isn’t it? Greece is the new China. The problem is that China is a bubble, and we all know that sooner or later bubbles burst....