ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
U.S. unemployment rates may have finally peaked last month, but the economic woes for many Americans are likely to continue for some time. For example, we learned this week that nearly 1 out of every 8 Americans uses food stamps. Yesterday, the Georgia Department of Labor reminded us of the severity of the unemployment situation … Read more
Food Stamps Go to a Record 37.2 Million, USDA Says (Update2) – Bloomberg.com A record 37.2 million people, or about one out of every eight Americans, received food stamps in September, as the recession drove a surging jobless rate, according to a government report. (tags: govt_spending poverty food_stamps) A Low May Be Forming in Gold … Read more
Britain to Levy a One-Time Tax on Banker Bonuses – NYTimes.com The tax represents the most direct attack on bank bonuses anywhere in the world. All banks in Britain — including the London-based subsidiaries of foreign banks — will be affected, whether they took government bailout funds or not. (tags: United_Kingdom banks tax_policy) Australia's Rudd … Read more
In a year where Chinese solar companies have generally out-performed American solar companies, LDK stands out as a laggard. LDK is down 31% for the year whereas every other major Chinese solar stock traded on the American exchanges is no worse than flat on the year. When Q-Cells announced it would terminate a supply contract … Read more
Good (or not as bad as expected) economic news has typically garnered selling in the U.S. dollar and buying in the stock market. On Friday, the good news that November’s monthly change in U.S. non-farm payrolls came in essentially flat sent the S&P 500 soaring as high as 1.7%. However, the dollar index also soared, … Read more