Take a day off and come back to record low US dollar levels. The USD index sits at 74.6 as I type this, 1.4922 against the euro and the yen at 107.88 against it. There’s a strong correlation between a rising yen and a lower stock market, probably due to the carry trade, so odds [...]
If you had been paying attention to financial news media back in August (hopefully many of you are not as foolish as I am), you would have heard many experts calling for an official stock market “correction” (a drop of 10%). These “experts” were saying that the markets hadn’t seen a correction for years and [...]
During Bernanke’s testimony a couple of weeks ago in Washington, Helicopter Ben suggested that Fannie and Freddie be allowed to raise the caps on loans they can accept to help alleviate pressure in the mortgage-backed securities market. This proposal elicited a violent reaction from me. If Chuck Schumer manages to get this proposal enacted, I [...]
Any person who has ever interacted with dogs on a regular basis knows that you need to establish that you are the leader of the pack and that it (the dog) needs to follow you. Failing this, you will lose control, with varying destructive consequences (depending on the dog, of course). Back at the beginning [...]
Now that the portfolio page is updated, I can mention that I sold Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) earlier this month (check the portfolio page for details). We made a small gain on it but mostly it was a portfolio allocation and strategy issue. My girlfriend actually made the call to sell (I do all of [...]
Markets are rallying today. I scanned the Bloomberg headlines and there’s something about a Cisco buyback and upgrades on oil stocks. Here’s some other news that may be of significance: Fed Governor Jawbones Market Against Rate Cut Expectations (yeah, uh-huh) Our Fairweather Pal, FedEx, Cuts Forecasts Goldman Sachs Warns of Recession Risk TIC Data Comes [...]
