ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
I was very skeptical of Bernie Schaeffer’s choice of XRT, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF, as one of his top three recommendations in late November. He chose XRT as a contrarian play in the face of heavy skepticism about the health of the consumer. XRT slogged and churned for over two months before breaking out … Read more
China reports rare trade deficit Officials blame the $7.2bn deficit on rising volumes and prices of the raw materials the country needs to import to power its economy. The officials, who announced the figures at an economic conference in Hainan, say the deficit is likely to be a short-term phenomenon. (tags: China economy) LA faces … Read more
Former Fed chief Greenspan: 'I was wrong 30% of the time' – ABC News From the councils of government to the paneled boardrooms of Wall Street, the idea of Alan Greenspan erring once would have seemed rank heresy. Those days, however, are long gone. Pressed Wednesday to defend his stewardship of the U.S. economy in … Read more
Home Depot Is Adding Jobs for First Time in 4 Years (Update1) – Bloomberg.com Home Depot Inc., the largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, is adding store jobs for the first time in four years in anticipation of a rebound in sales. (tags: HomeDepot economy jobs)
For most of this year, I have interpreted the Federal Reserve’s policy to maintain “exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period” as the equivalent of low rates for at least the next six months from each new confirmation. This interpretation came from a January interview with New York Federal Reserve … Read more