ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
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
Last week, I noticed media headlines screaming the horrible news that “Crude steel output in 2009 to hit lowest level in 40 years.” As I searched for the direct source of this quote from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), I stumbled upon its “Preliminary Report on Iron and Steel, Non-ferrous metal, and … Read more
While I feel bad for Chicagoans and America for losing out on the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, I am very excited for Brazil. It is about time South America got the chance to host these games. My one Olympics experience was in Atlanta in 1996. I had a lot of fun back then, … Read more