In the last week, there was an unusually clear message from the core of the FOMC. Ben spent hours answering questions in front of Congress last Tuesday and Wednesday - and then gave a strongly worded speech on Friday in San Francisco. On Monday, his number one...
As our beloved colonel/chairman took the stand this week, nerves in the market were frayed. News of Italian election chaos and the sequester were splashed across the screens. Spoos had been pounded, the Yen was rallying and you could hear the screams of pain from...
The markets continue to be driven in the short term by a lot of noise. People are focusing on the UK downgrade, Italian elections, Cypriot bailouts, LTRO paydowns, the US sequester and Charlie Sheen's twitter pictures during the Oscars. All of these "focal points"...
In the December minutes, the following passage got everyone hot and bothered - “In considering the outlook for the labor market and the broader economy, a few members expressed the view that ongoing asset purchases would likely be warranted until about the end of...
This is NOT a currency war - it’s a growth war. And the rules of engagement were established this past week by the G20. We could think of the released statement as a sort of "Geneva Convention" for the upcoming fight. And let's make no mistake - this is setting up to...
Before discussing "Bubble Busters" - which should hopefully generate a few morning laughs - I want to address two very important points from last week. First, I wrote a quick comment last Wednesday entitled "Why would Mario be hawkish?". The premise was that at last...
Europe has tried to stage a comeback as a "risk-off" force in the global markets after essentially losing all its relevance in the last 3 to 6 months. Somehow, with Italian 2 year yields at 1.60%, I cannot get very excited about the prospects of Europe staying in the...
Spoos +9, Blues +7, it just doesn't get any better than that! The Fed has your back if it gets bad, and the Fed will be slow to react when it all goes right. The basic trade of long risk/long blues is the best representation of that view in the market - hands down. If...
In the past week I have seen many investors who have quite modest allocations to equities, physical real estate and commodities. These guys are your typical insurance, mutual fund and money manager types. I was also at the ASF meetings in Vegas with many of the same...
There have only been 115 trading days in history where the SPX closed above 1500. The periods were: Mar/Apr 2000, Aug 2000, May-July 2007 and Sept-Dec 2007. And while we didn't settle above 1500 yesterday, it was our first intraday peek above this threshold in over 5...
There have only been 115 trading days in history where the SPX closed above 1500. The periods were: Mar/Apr 2000, Aug 2000, May-July 2007 and Sept-Dec 2007. And while we didn't settle above 1500 yesterday, it was our first intraday peek above this threshold in over 5 years. These physiological break points may seem innocuous […]
