Bulls, Bears & Bucks #69 Peak Debt

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Op dinsdag 5 april 2011 16:12 schreef zoost het volgende:

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Het is zuiverder m.i. om goud als waardevast te zien. Valuta devalueren dus als een idioot tegen goud. Negeer de teksten op het plaatje.

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Op maandag 4 april 2011 21:25 schreef LXIV het volgende:
Waar zijn trouwens de shorters, die de afgelopen jaren hier steeds kwamen verkondigen dat de aandelenmarkt spoedig ging crashen, tot 120 oid, en dat ze volop in de puts zaten?
Zolang je die ziet kun je met een gerust hart long zitten, want dan gebeurt er toch niks. Maar die stilte vanaf dat front maakt me lichtelijk nerveus.

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Op dinsdag 5 april 2011 16:27 schreef Mendeljev het volgende:
SE noemde eerder al dat commodities een sprong in de hoogte maakten vlak voor de vorige crash en dat lijkt nu weer te gebeuren.

Overigens vond ik deze reactie wel treffend hoewel ik over het algemeen weinig waarde hecht aan de publieke opinie.

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Ik ben benieuwd, is het stilte voor de storm?

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Op dinsdag 5 april 2011 16:29 schreef Perrin het volgende:
Tja, elke keer weer:

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Stimulus by Fed Is Disappointing, Economists Say

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s experimental effort to spur a recovery by purchasing vast quantities of federal debt has pumped up the stock market, reduced the cost of American exports and allowed companies to borrow money at lower interest rates.

But most Americans are not feeling the difference, in part because those benefits have been surprisingly small. The latest estimates from economists, in fact, suggest that the pace of recovery from the global financial crisis has flagged since November, when the Fed started buying $600 billion in Treasury securities to push private dollars into investments that create jobs.

A study published in February found that interest rates decreased, but only for companies with top credit ratings. “Rates that are highly relevant for households and many corporations — mortgage rates and rates on lower-grade corporate bonds — were largely unaffected by the policy,” wrote Arvind Krishnamurthy and Annette Vissing-Jorgensen, both finance professors at Northwestern University.

Another indication of its limited success: Borrowing has not grown significantly, suggesting that corporations — which are sitting on record piles of cash — are not yet seeing opportunities for new investments. Until they do, some economists argue that the Fed is pushing on a string.

“What has it done? It has eased credit conditions, it has pumped up the stock market, it has suppressed the dollar,” said Mickey Levy, Bank of America’s chief economist. “But does the Fed think that buying Treasuries and bloating its balance sheet is really going to create permanent job increases?”

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Op woensdag 27 april 2011 16:09 schreef pberends het volgende:
Topeconomen luiden noodklok

Ze vergelijken NL zelfs een beetje met Ierland . Klinkt hoopvol.

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Japan's stunning stats: Yosano's new nightmare

As variously predicted, the “3/11 effect” on Japan’s economy is starting to kick in. And true to warnings that the impact could be far worse than feared, the latest batch of data is reasonably horrible.

Only a day after S&P signalled fresh concerns about Japan’s economy, official data on Thursday showed a far sharper plunge in March industrial production than the consensus 10.6 per cent – a whopping 15.3 per cent fall from February – while March household spending slid an annual 8.5 per cent.

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You Are What You Owe
Americans are forever grumbling about government gridlock. But the whole game changes when a credit-rating agency begins to echo them.

On April 18, Standard & Poor's, one of those mysteriously powerful firms that grade the financial strength of bond issuers, announced that it was starting to wonder whether the mighty U.S. government could be counted on to repay its creditors.

It was a big moment: the first time in seven decades of monitoring Uncle Sam that S&P had sounded such a warning. "The sign of political gridlock was a key determinant in our outlook change," explained an S&P executive. "Twilight in Washington," read a Financial Times caption.

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China pushes U.S. on debt ahead of high-level talks

BEIJING (Reuters) - China, wielding its huge dollar holdings, on Friday pressed Washington to tackle its huge fiscal deficit and said it would raise the issue of discrimination against Chinese investors at high-level talks next week.

"We are paying a lot of attention to this (the fiscal deficit)," Chinese Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters at a briefing about the talks.

"We hope that the United States in its fiscal clean-up will be able to adopt effective measures based on President Obama's proposal," Zhu said, giving unusually forthright backing to the Obama plan.

"For the present stage, we believe that the most crucial thing is that the U.S. economy maintains a vigorous impetus toward recovery and that this developing trend is maintained," Zhu said.

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Op vrijdag 6 mei 2011 17:06 schreef Perrin het volgende:

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Op vrijdag 6 mei 2011 17:31 schreef SeLang het volgende:

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Het uitroken van de Chinezen werkt. De Amerikanen hebben gewoon de beste kaarten in deze standoff.

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Op zondag 8 mei 2011 18:52 schreef pberends het volgende:
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Op vrijdag 6 mei 2011 17:31 schreef SeLang het volgende:

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Het uitroken van de Chinezen werkt. De Amerikanen hebben gewoon de beste kaarten in deze standoff.

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The People vs. Goldman Sachs

Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients.

America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn't leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial.

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(Reuters) - Big hedge funds and speculators cut their bullish bets on commodity markets by $17 billion in the week through Tuesday, the biggest bear turn since at least 2009, regulatory data showed on Friday.

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How to invest for long-term inflation

It’s no secret that food and energy prices are volatile and rising of late. Yet what’s missing from the latest inflation hand-wringing is what’s down the road. Some commodities are becoming scarcer and that will drive long-term inflation.

How would you invest for scarcity? You might want to focus heavily on natural resources such as minerals, metals and agriculture. Countries and sectors likely to prosper from these trends are worth holding in your portfolio through exchange-traded funds:

• Global Agribusiness. The Market Vectors Global Agribusiness ETF follows an index of companies in this sector.

• Industrial Materials. The iShares S&P Global Materials Index ETF tracks an index of commodity-related mining/manufacturing firms.

• Australia. The island continent is blessed with abundant mineral resources. The iShares MSCI-Australia ETF follows an index of major Aussie stocks.

• Argentina. The South American country is big in both agriculture and resources. The Global X FTSE Argentina 20 follows major Argentine companies.

• Lithium. This pasty metal is the key component for high-tech batteries used in electric cars. The Global X Lithium ETF is a play on this important metal.