Archive for August, 2011
Is the Chinese Economy a Bubble?
Wikileaks, the infamous organization known for publishing top-secret communications cables, recently published another load of documents on the Internet. The new release includes a document demonstrating that Chinese officials have been aware of the possibility of asset bubbles within the Chinese economy since 2009. Some in the investment community have been warning of the possibility [...]
Fed’s Evans Sends Commodities Higher
On Tuesday, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago—Charles Evans—spoke in an interview on CNBC. During and following the interview, commodities rallied. Gold spiked nearly 2%, while oil, which had been trading down in the morning session, reversed course and moved into positive territory. Evans’ comments may have been the catalyst that sent [...]
The Final Nail in the Coffin for Sino-Forest?
On Friday morning, Canadian regulators issued an order to stop trading shares of Sino-Forest (OTC: SNOFF) on charges that the company might have exaggerated its timber holdings. Shares of Sino-Forest plummeted on the news, opening down over 50%. Regulators also demanded that five of the company’s executives resign. That order was later rescinded, yet, on [...]
Countdown to Nonfarm Payroll
On Friday, the August nonfarm payroll number will be released. Analysts are anticipating an increase in payrolls of 75,000. While an exceptionally positive or negative report could send the market moving wildly in either direction, the number may ultimately have a much larger effect than any in recent months. A week from Tuesday, President Obama [...]
Will The Short Sale Ever Return to Europe?
On Thursday last week, several countries in the European Union (EU) announced that they were extending the ban on the short sales of financial stocks. Belgium, Italy, France and Spain had imposed bans earlier in the month. European markets came under heavy selling pressure late in July. Although many cited the debt ceiling extension as [...]
The Bernanke Punt
On Friday, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke gave his annual speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The speech had been widely anticipated for weeks. Last year, Bernanke used his Jackson Hole speech to lay the groundwork for the second round of quantitative easing (QE2). Given the recent sell-off on Wall Street, and the [...]
The Beginning of the End for Apple?
Wednesday night, Steve Jobs—possibly the most highly regarded CEO in the world—announced his resignation from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). Nearly immediately, the stock sold off, trading down over 5% in the after-market session. Yet, slowly, the stock began to regain its losses and, by market open the next day, was nearly flat. At mid-session Thursday, Apple [...]
Buffett Enlarges His Control Of The Banking Industry
The financial media were dominated on Thursday by the announcement that Warren Buffett would purchase $5B in preferred shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC). The news propelled shares of the bank strongly higher. In pre-market trading, Bank of America was up as much as 24%, trading near $8.70. CNBC’s Jim Cramer stated that Buffett’s [...]
Germany Struggles Over Euro Bailouts
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke about the future of the eurozone. In her remarks, she spoke about her commitment to keep the eurozone intact, yet, at the same time, she dismissed a major proposed solution. Does Merkel believe that the eurozone’s problems are overstated? Or is she merely playing politics and posturing for [...]
Have Gold Skeptics Been Validated?
After almost hitting $1,900 on Monday, Gold started to pull back on Tuesday, and sharply declined on Wednesday, dipping well below the $1,800 price mark. The precious metal has enjoyed a bull market for the last decade, although much of the action in the price of gold has occurred within the last several weeks. Since [...]
