Archive for January, 2012
Welcome to 2012, Welcome to the New Zecco!
The first week of the New Year is always a good time to reflect on the past year, and look ahead at what’s coming in the next. 2012 will be an exciting year because of the Olympics in London and the Presidential race here in the U.S. Right now though, I am especially grateful for [...]
PIMCO’s Bill Gross Is Bearish on 2012
The head of the world’s largest bond fund—PIMCO—released his investment letter on Wednesday. In it, Bill Gross was notably bearish on the global economy. Gross states, “financial markets and global economies are at great risk.” Noting that the global financial market has depended upon the growth of credit in recent decades, Gross sees little hope [...]
Are U.S. Autos Set to Rebound?
U.S. vehicle sales were reported on Wednesday. Analysts estimated that the figure would come in at 13.5 million. So, would the numbers beat expectations? Traders had a few reasons to anticipate a rosy picture. First, many market commentators believe that auto sales are strongly correlated with consumer confidence. On the surface, this makes intuitive sense, [...]
Dollar Shows Weakness at Start of the Year
For Wall Street, 2012 began with a bang, as U.S. equity markets rallied roughly 2% on the first trading day of the New Year. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar showed weakness, dropping nearly 1%. On the other side of the trade, the EUR/USD currency pair was strong, as it broke decisively through the $1.30 level. That [...]
Asian Currency Outlook in 2012
Currency traders had a particularly interesting year in 2011. The expiration of the second round of quantitative easing (QE2), multiple interventions by the Bank of Japan (BoJ), and the initiation of a hard peg of the Swiss franc to the euro all contributed to an intensely volatile forex year. While it will be hard to [...]
Where Is the Natural Gas Boom?
In recent years, many commentators have been predicting a natural gas boom in the United States. The country has frequently been called the “Saudi Arabia” of natural gas—a reference to the fact that Saudi Arabia contains a significant percentage of the world’s known oil reserves. Texas oil magnate T. Boone Pickens has been pushing to [...]
