News Posts

Treasury Confirms Debt Ceiling Will Be Breached Today

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It’s official, the U.S. is expected to reach the legal limit on its debt later on Monday and will start dipping into federal retirement funds to give the country more room to borrow, a Treasury official said. According to Reuters, the U.S. Treasury will settle $72 billion in maturing bonds today, which will push the country right up against its $14.294 trillion borrowing cap.  Check out this letter from Geithner… The Honorable Harry Reid Democratic Leader United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Mr. Leader: I am writing to notify you, as required under 5 U.S.C. § 8348(l)(2), of my … Read more

Weekend Reading

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Weekends are a great time to catch up on some of the good reads from the week… Goldman’s O’Neill Sees Investors Missing Stock Rally on ‘Black Swan’ Fears (Bloomberg) Facebook’s Stealth Attack on Google Exposes Its Own Privacy Problem (Wired) Lessons From The Flash Crash (Forbes) The People vs. Goldman Sachs (Rolling Stone) A Crude Guess About The Future (Freakonomics) Is College a Rotten Investment? (Slate) The World’s 26 Best Cities for Business, Life, and Innovation (The Atlantic) On the Floor Laughing: Traders Are Having a New Kind of Fun  (The Atlantic) Gloom and Doom, and How to Profit From … Read more

Global Markets Declare War On Speculators: Shanghai Gold Exchange Follows CME Hiking Silver Margins

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According to Mr. Durden at ZeroHedge, the Fed has now ordained Japan to carry out the global reliquification scheme in the form of a new, and powerful batch of QE, so the regional war on (Fed liquidity engorged) speculators has just gone global. Following 5 consecutive silver margin hikes by the CME (which oddly did nothing on yesterday’s price collapse even as the silver vol surged to near record levels) at which point it would appear silly for the exchange to continue its speculator eradication campaign, the memo has now been sent to foreign bourses. Sure enough, the Shanghai Gold Exchange … Read more

Commodity Flash Crash Part II – Senators Demand Immediate Position Limits In Crude Oil

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Feeling the fury of this bipolar market, the liquidation surge has arrived, right at the front door of the commodities family, with an emphasis on crude oil, gas, and silver. What started off as a sharp correction in silver is quickly turning into a sell-off of historic proportions.  With a four-day decline of almost 30% the selloff in silver is one of the most severe selloffs in the history of the metal’s futures contract. Sheer panic at the CME, 5 margin hikes in 8 days on Silver futures, is unheard of!!

Although we saw signs of a recovery early this week, it was Deja vu in the commodities markets today, with another flash crash similar to the one last Thursday. Crude-oil futures settled below $100 a barrel Wednesday, and gasoline plunged nearly 8%, after the CME Group briefly halted trading in oil, heating-oil and gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange after the June gasoline contract hit its daily price limit. The CME also boosted daily price limits for crude oil to $20 and for heating oil and gasoline to 50 cents. According to James Williams, an economist at WTRG Economics “A short trading halt only occurs when there is high volatility in the price to give the market a little breathing space.”

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Weekend Read with an Eye to Profits

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One reason I’m a news addict is that I like to game the news. What I mean is can you make money off a headline, can you get insight into a macro trend? So here are my eye catching reads of the weekend and a way to profit from it. I’d love to hear your comments. Number of the Week: Class of 2011 most indebted ever. WSJ May 7th : The article states, “The Class of 2011 will graduate this spring from America’s colleges and universities with a dubious distinction: the most indebted ever.”.    The reason the class of 2011 … Read more

‘s Press Conference, No Rate Hike Until July 2012?

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Yesterday was a historic day. The Federal Reserve gave their first press conference, ever. Below is the actual full press conference so you can watch for yourselves, in full. What are your thoughts on how Ben handled the issues at hand? Barclays Capital looks does not look for the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates until the summer of 2012 and says the loose monetary policy in the meantime should remain supportive for gold. Prices rose after a Wednesday FOMC statement that said rates will remain low for an “extended time,” with gold hitting a fresh record overnight and silver also … Read more

Will Bernanke say the D word?

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The Fed will release its formal FOMC statement and rates decision today at 12:30 pm (ET). While the Fed is likely to make no changes to its stance on monetary policy, everyone will be on the edge of their seats waiting to here what Ben has to say. At 2:15 pm (ET), Ben will hold his first post-FOMC meeting press conference.  According to the Wall Street Journal, here are some details on the mechanics of the post-FOMC press conference: „ -Bernanke will give only a brief opening statement. „ -Only one reporter per credentialed news organization. „ -Reporters will be called on; questions will … Read more

China Sees Conspiracy in Global Reserve Currency

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The topic of a reserve currency to replace the dollar never gets old, and the logic behind it is a bit fuzzy. First and foremost, why is the dollar the reserve currency of choice? Does America threaten to bombard any country that chooses to keep its reserves in euros, yen, Swiss francs, or gold, instead of adorable Benjamin Franklins? Let’s look at the landscape first. The Financial Times published the article “The best alternative to a new global currency,” authored by Joseph Stiglitz, a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001. Mr. Stiglitz points out some issues, as … Read more

‘s What Bonds Did The Last Time The Government Shut Down…

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With less than 10 hours left until the federal budget deadline and no deal in sight, a government shutdown now looks imminent. Federal agencies have already prepared to close up shop. But questions remain about what kind of impact it would have and how disruptive it will be to your life. American public. A shutdown might impact the trading volatility since it means the release of certain economic indicators would stop. However, the shutdown would NOT have any affect on tax collection, Treasury issuance, debt interest payments or existing social security beneficiaries. In the end, it is the White House … Read more

Slaughter the Dollar, Cry at the Pump

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The ongoing slaughter of the US dollar is sending everything that still has value, especially hard assets and commodities.  WTI Crude Oil just hit $111.25….1st time since 08….On a side note, China, Asia’s largest oil consumer, raised retail prices of gasoline and diesel for the second time this year, starting Thursday, as international crude oil prices continue rising, China Business News reported on Thursday. The benchmark retail price for gasoline will rise by RMB 500 a metric ton on April 7 and that for diesel will increase by RMB 400, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Wednesday. … Read more

Companies on the Move in Emerging Markets

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This is a great report I found on the web about rising stars in emerging markets.  The Boston Consulting Group did an excellent job as usual in ferreting out this information.   The BCG is a global management consulting firm and according to them the world’s leading adviser on business strategy.  I did work with them while I was CEO at HomeCom and they were first rate. You can find the report here.