Credit Conditions for Housing Continue to Tighten

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 27, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) In December of 2012, I provided a description of the housing recovery from the eyes of mortgage investors who could see the recovery but worried about tightening credit conditions. Six months … Read more

Mixed Signals Surround the Steady Creep Higher In Interest Rates

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 7, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) Tuesday’s trading (August 6, 2013) brought out the taper tantrum jitters again. Officials from the Federal Reserve are once again reminding financial markets about the potential for September to bring the … Read more

An Uneven Recovery from the Interest Rate Blues

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on July 17, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released the minutes from its monetary policy decision meeting earlier this month. It contains some great detail on the RBA’s assessment of global financial conditions. … Read more

Global Markets Synchronize Into A State of Calm That Does NOT Equate to Safety

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 19, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Nassim Taleb has been on a tour promoting his new book “Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder.” He provides related links and interviews on his Antifragile web site where he … Read more

The U.S. Dollar’s Post-QE3 Relief Rally Likely To Give Way To Meandering

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 10, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The financial crisis of 2008/2009 ended a long-term downtrend in the U.S. dollar (UUP). Ever since then, the Federal Reserve has been unable to grease the skids sufficiently to get this … Read more

The Best Currency Setups to Start the Fourth Quarter

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 1, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) The major paper currencies have an on-going problem – many of the financial authorities in charge of preserving their “value” are actively trying to drive that value downward, jawboning for a … Read more

Federal Reserve Printing Got You Down? Sprinkle Precious Metals On Your Portfolio

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 16, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) For those who have paid attention to the words of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, it is no surprise that money-printing continues to be the response to persistently poor economic performance. … Read more

Commodity Currencies Already Reverse QE3 Gains

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 17, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) I am still working on a revision for the commodity crash playbook to take into account the new QE3 regime, but the trading action is already moving faster than I can … Read more

Now that Bernanke Has Made His Move, It Is Azumi’s Turn

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 14, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) In the Federal Reserve’s latest statement on monetary policy, Chairman Ben Bernanke basically announced that the Fed is giving the economy a blank check: {snip} This forceful action is likely much … Read more

Using the QE2 Reference Price To Buy Freeport-McMoRan

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on September 10, 2012. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip}…I want to demonstrate how well last year’s playbook has worked for Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) (so far!). One of the rules from the playbook states: “QE2 (the second … Read more