Jan 24, 2010

Daily Markets - Financial News & Opinions

Daily Markets - Financial News & Opinions

Faber’s Take On US Debt, “We’re All Doomed”

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 10:00 AM PST

In an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box Europe — beginning 5 minutes into the clip – Gloom, Boom, & Doom Report editor Marc Faber discusses overpaid US government workers, the lurking certainty of tax increases, and the spectacular failure of state pension fund managers who bought assets at peak prices, got out at the bottom, and now face $2 trillion in unfunded liabilities.
As the video show, Faber simply cannot imagine how the US debt problem can be solved and … [visit site to read more]


Jawboning Didn’t Work In 1962; It Won’t Work Today

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 09:01 AM PST

About the only advantage of getting older is seeing the extent to which history repeats itself. Take, for example, Obama’s “chastising big Wall Street banks yesterday, January 21, urgently calling for limits on their size and investments to stave off a new economic meltdown.” According to Obama, “We have to get this done. If these folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have.”

These fighting words reminded me of a similar speech made by another young, democratic President in … [visit site to read more]

Land Of The “Mostly” Free

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 07:00 AM PST

"Freedom is the right to tell people what they don't want to hear." – Eric Arthur Blair (a.k.a. George Orwell)
That the United States of America was this week demoted from its formerly "Free" categorization by The Heritage Foundation to that of "Mostly Free" should come as no surprise to any semiliterate, moderately contemplative individual. Americans living under the tyranny of a Big Brother-style government hardly needed a Washington-based think tank and a Wall Street Journal … [visit site to read more]

Obama, Are Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs) Considered Prop Trading?

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 06:01 AM PST

Is President Obama’s proposal to rein in risk on Wall Street genuine or merely another Washington political ploy to curry favor with an enraged American electorate?

As with any proposal, the devil is always in the details. Initial pushback from Wall Street is strong but also informative. What is Wall Street highlighting? The large Wall Street banks are promoting the fact that proprietary trading operations do not encompass a large percentage of their overall business. In fact, JP … [visit site to read more]

Reasons Why Platinum ETFs Could Be The New Gold

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 03:45 AM PST

Gold had better watch its back.  Platinum’s price is soaring to new heights and a pair of newly launched exchange traded funds (ETFs) aimed at the metal had a stellar first week of trading.

ETF Securities' platinum and palladium ETFs had a resoundingly successful first week, hitting $350 million in assets. The funds also saw trading volume upward of 300,000 shares for palladium and 450,000 for platinum.

The London Bullion Market Association forecasts that platinum prices will range … [visit site to read more]

The SEC Pimped Peter Sivere

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 01:01 AM PST

Add Peter Sivere to the list of people totally screwed by the Wall Street-Washington incest.

The incestuous nature of the Wall Street-Washington relationship runs across many segments of our financial landscape. That said, the corrosive nature of this incest is most egregious within those institutions charged with protecting investors, that is the SEC and FINRA.

The SEC and FINRA failed the Madoff investors, the Stanford investors, and ultimately the country as a whole. I firmly … [visit site to read more]

What The “I’m Mad-As-Hell” Party Could Do

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 11:37 PM PST

A third political party is emerging in America. Call it the I'm-Mad-As-Hell party.

It's a mistake to see the Mad-As-Hell party as just a right-wing phenomenon – the so-called Tea Partiers now storming the gates of the Republican Party. There are plenty of mad-as-hellers on the left as well – furious at Wall Street, health insurers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and establishment Democrats.

Mad-as-hellers don't trust big government. But they don't trust big business and Wall … [visit site to read more]

Survey: Americans Want Wall Street Held Accountable

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 11:01 PM PST

America is pissed off. Tremendous grasp of the obvious, right? Well just how pissed off is America?

Thank you to a new friend of Sense on Cents for sharing a recent survey taken by the Opinion Research Corporation addressing America’s general lack of trust with Wall Street and corporate officers.

Pretty sorry state of affairs when a large percentage of America thinks our financial and corporate executives are a pack of liars. No surprise that America wants greater protection from … [visit site to read more]

Demystified: Five ETFs You May Not Know

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 05:01 PM PST

The exchange traded fund (ETF) world is large, vast and still growing. As new launches appear, it becomes increasingly challenging to become educated on all of them. Here are five funds that are different from the rest and may be worth a look.

1. EGS Dow Jones Emerging Markets Titans Composite (EEG): down 5.7% in the last three months. EEG seeks to track the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Titans Composite Index, which is an index composed of a representative sample of 100 emerging market … [visit site to read more]

Wisdom From Another Old Hand

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 04:51 PM PST

As with the quarterly letters of GMO chairman Jeremy Grantham, which I’ve highlighted on several occasions, the writings of another old Wall Street hand have garnered a strong following through the years. In his latest memo to clients [not yet posted on his company's website], Howard Marks, the co-founder and chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, a 15-year old investment management firm with more than $60 billion under management, discusses some of the things that concern … [visit site to read more]

Emerging Markets Will Continue To Lead The Way

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 04:01 PM PST

Emerging markets, especially China, Brazil, India, much of Asia and other parts of Latin America will lead the rest of the world in economic growth. As a multi-year trend, this is continuation of one of the best investing themes from 2009. Demand for commodities such as copper and steel will be critical for this growth. The economic growth of these countries is encouraging the emergence of a new middle class.

For example, the World Bank estimates that the global middle class is likely to … [visit site to read more]

Faulty Judgment At Inflection Points In History

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 02:43 PM PST

Today the economy and the capital markets are faced with the long-term buildup of public and private credit. Moreover, promises to tax and spend future income may even be the greater influence. How we got here is more a story of what has happened to our culture than it is one of a particular central bank or government policy.
Combined, our private and public liabilities are multiples of the income of the United States, and the situation is no different in Europe. The change to a system wherein … [visit site to read more]

Stock Investor Sentiment: Poorly Positioned

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 12:43 PM PST

After notching a high earlier in the week for this rally that started in March, 2009, the S&P500 went on to lose over 5% in 3 trading days. This puts the S&P500 below the November 13, 2009 closing high. In the short term, “everyone” expects the proverbial bounce giving pause to bulls and bears alike, but make no mistake about it, investors remain poorly positioned to weather a sell off.

And oh for the record, this is what I wrote in the November 15, 2009 commentary on market … [visit site to read more]
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