ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Creative Accounting Resurfaces in Tight Times Corporate balance sheets may be showing signs of the wear and tear from the prolonged U.S. recession as accounting irregularities are starting to surface at growing numbers at U.S. companies. (tags: earnings fraud) Q&A: Economist Woodford on Fed and Rate Expectations Interview with Michael Woodford, the John Bates Clark … Read more
In “Market Cheers Over Ugly GDP Report“, Mike “Mish” Shedlock breaks down the components of the Q3 GDP numbers and laments that “I am struggling to understand what is surprising other than how bad this all looks once you break down the numbers.” The surprise was that the annualized GDP of 3.5% was a smidge … Read more
''Cash on sidelines'' less than investors anticipate: Goldman Investors could be disappointed if they anticipate tons of money waiting to get back into the stock market, since ''cash on the sidelines'' is much less than estimated, Goldman Sachs analysts said. (tags: money_market stock_market) FT.com – Stimuli can be safely removed Policy makers will therefore soon … Read more
Speculative stocks typically get hit the hardest during corrections in the stock market, and solar stocks definitely qualify for a beating. In the past 4 days of selling, TAN, the Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy Index, is already down 10%. Solar stocks have been big laggards this year as TAN is now back to even on … Read more
The current correction has produced a LOT of intriguing charts. The Brazil Index Fund ETF, EWZ, is certainly one of them (shown below). EWZ suffered its largest one-day drop since March, and it has now completed a roundtrip for its Olympics-driven rally. EWZ is now already down 12% from its closing 14-month high just last … Read more
It turns out that the lower lows I noted in T2108, the percentage of stocks that are trading above their 40-day moving averages (DMAs), were indeed leading to at least one more lower low. T2108 fell dramatically today, from 48% yesterday to 23% today. This breaks the July lows as well as the series of … Read more
“…we do not believe that real demand…has really improved much since the end of last year, and we don’t see things in the economy from a flat roll standpoint or long product standpoint whether you’re talking automotive, construction, housing, non-residential construction, oil county[sic] goods or what have you, we don’t see that there is a … Read more
The Wall Street Journal printed a trifecta of articles to day that seem to cry out for the dollar to lift its head out of the sludge. Coincidentally (or not), the dollar rallied for its biggest one-day gain in almost three weeks. In “Uncertainty May Help Dollar“, analysts remind us that the economic recovery remains … Read more
Mortgages – Homeowners Walking Away – NYTimes.com A RECENT study suggests that most homeowners have qualms about abandoning a mortgage that they can afford to pay, even if it straps them to an investment that’s unlikely to pay off anytime soon. (tags: housing mortgage default) Pound Is Poised for Goldman Rally Not Helping Brown The … Read more
The British pound has taken some sharp twists and turns since first hitting 4-month lows against the U.S. dollar on September 28. I have been steadfast in my bearishness against the pound since mid-September, but I have found it necessary to dance in and out of positions given the persistent decline in the dollar against … Read more