ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The World Steel Association (worldsteel) forecasts for 2010 confirm my earlier view that steel demand (and production) most likely bottomed this year and some kind of recovery is underway. Worldsteel’s forecasts indicate that demand for steel in 2010 will return to 2008 levels after contracting in 2009 by 8.6%: “The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is … Read more
Just thinking about writing this piece makes me cringe. After celebrating gold’s fresh 18-month highs yesterday, it occurred to me that I need to review my biggest whiff of this year: Goldman Sachs (GS), affectionately called “Government Sachs.” I could just as easily call this one “how I missed out on at least 900% returns.” … Read more
Watching the U.S. dollar try to rally is like watching a wet noodle trying to stand up…in a downpour. The latest relief rally that I expected in the U.S. dollar came and went with a whimper. A week of lackluster meandering upward has ended with three days of selling, punctuated by the Reserve Bank of … Read more
Some fun facts: Gold (GLD) is up 18% for 2009. The S&P 500 is up 17% for 2009. The S&P 500 has essentially gone nowhere in “real gold” terms. The angriest bears out there might declare that the stock market rally is merely a mirage, the result of the decreasing value of paper currency. I … Read more
Once again, I am left wondering why another poor jobs report has supposedly caught the market and pundits by surprise. Those of us on the ground, and not just generating models, know and understand the ugliness of the job situation and see how it continues to worsen, not improve. We remain on schedule to hit … Read more