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A Good Time For Gold and Silver

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 11:53:03 -0400

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! A day off from the Nationals-Cardinals series, so a day to recharge the batteries, which is what I did yesterday afternoon. I had already seen the NY market participants and traders take down the currencies and metals, and I had seen enough! So, yesterday morning, I told you I was watching the currencies ratchet higher, probably on the excitement of the Eurozone’s ESM opening for business. But [...]

A Good Time For Gold and Silver appeared in the Daily Reckoning. Subscribe to The Daily Reckoning by visiting signup for an Agora Financial newsletter.

Currencies Lose the Lofty Levels Seen After QE3 Announcement

Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:45:34 -0400

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! As Gomer Pyle used to say, Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! Yes it’s me! I’m back! Well, sort of. Before I go on, though, please let me say that I am so thankful for all of you who have sent thoughts and prayers my way. This has been a [...]

Currencies Lose the Lofty Levels Seen After QE3 Announcement originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. ".

Japan Turns to Quantitative Easing Once Again!

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 12:32:36 -0400

The Bank of Japan, with instructions from the Japanese Finance Ministry, announced that they would increase their purchases of Japanese government bonds. You know they decided to do this because their multiple implementations of QE, going back 20 years, have all worked so well! NOT! We all hear the party line that central banks do [...]

Japan Turns to Quantitative Easing Once Again! originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Recently Agora Financial released a video titled "What Causes Gas Price to Increase?".

Risk Assets Trade in a Tight Range

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:22:39 -0400

Good day. And a Happy Friday to one and all! It’s Good Friday for those of us that observe it that way. Good Friday for the markets means that the stock jockeys have headed to the Hamptons already, and the bond boys and girls will close up shop early today, so they can get a [...]

Risk Assets Trade in a Tight Range originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Recently Agora Financial released a video titled "What is Fracking?".

Astounding Facts About Fed Treasury Purchases

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:20:25 -0400

The risk assets are still getting taken to the woodshed this morning, and once again, even stocks are getting sold. So there’s nowhere to hide these days from the dollar. Even Treasuries aren’t seeing a steady flow to them these days. So David Freese isn’t the only one swinging a big stick these days; the [...]

Astounding Facts About Fed Treasury Purchases originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Recently Agora Financial released a video titled "What is Fracking?".

Fed Gives Parameters for Additional Stimulus

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:49:06 -0400

Good day. Boy, did I ever “hit the wall” yesterday! I got home and collapsed in my recliner, and immediately fell asleep. It had been a whirlwind three weeks, and then I “hit the wall.” It looks as if the risk assets have “hit the wall” too yesterday afternoon, which has carried through to the [...]

Fed Gives Parameters for Additional Stimulus originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Recently Agora Financial released a video titled "What is Fracking?".

Euphoria Over Greek Debt Deal Fades

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:32:44 -0500

Friday’s price action was interesting in that the euro (EUR) held onto the 1.34 handle, but gold was down $7. Hmmm… One anti-dollar doing well, while the other one weakens… The other anti-dollar, so proclaimed by me last week, oil, saw continued interest in pushing the price higher. And with that higher price in oil, [...]

Euphoria Over Greek Debt Deal Fades originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

German Business Confidence Hits Seven-Month High!

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 12:12:29 -0500

The markets seem to be pushing the euro (EUR) past 1.33, this morning. And with the euro trading in a higher handle this morning, the rest of the currencies are reacting favorably. So the dollar is being chased to the woodshed. German business confidence as measured by the think tank IFO rose more than was [...]

German Business Confidence Hits Seven-Month High! originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

RBA Sounds Upbeat About Global Economic Growth

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:54:28 -0500

Good day… And a Tom Terrific Tuesday to you! Well… Yesterday, I realized that I couldn’t eat all day on Sunday, and expect to want to eat on Monday! But I’m ready to do so today! HA! I also realized yesterday just what a Donnie Downer I’ve been lately, with my insistence that there’s something [...]

RBA Sounds Upbeat About Global Economic Growth originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Currencies Hold Ground Ahead of Jobs Jamboree

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:25:54 -0500

This morning, the currencies look pretty much like they did yesterday when I left the office… There’s still the Sword of Damocles hanging over the euro (EUR), in the form of Greek negotiations to obtain help from private lenders. This has dragged on now for over two weeks, and I’ve given up on it happening… [...]

Currencies Hold Ground Ahead of Jobs Jamboree originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Commodities Take Off!

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:57:47 -0500

The Greek talks returned to the headlines this morning. I know I said this last Friday, and I was a little too optimistic and turned out to be wrong! But… I do expect this agreement on a private-sector involvement in Greek debt to get hammered out this weekend… It seems that the opposition from eurozone [...]

Commodities Take Off! originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Home Prices Keep Falling

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:35:32 -0500

Good day… Should be an interesting week, as the ECOFIN people meet and Greece is still working on their debt and… this will be my first full week of work in over a month, so all in all, pretty interesting! What I also found interesting on Friday was the price action of silver… I don’t [...]

Home Prices Keep Falling originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

SNB Unlikely to Change Policy (FXE, FXF, UUP, EWC)

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:50:48 -0500

Mike Kulej: Media was buzzing on Monday with news of Philipp Hildebrand quitting as the chairman of the Swiss National Bank over his wife’s currency trades. In response, market participants started to buy the Franc, as if Mr. Hildebrand’s departure...

Eurozone Data Continues to Print Weak

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:23:22 -0500

There’s a lot to get to this morning… but front and center is the Jobs Jamboree Friday… The first one of 2012, although it is December’s job creation report. The ADP jobs report yesterday, which was supposed to be the “indicator” for the Jobs Jamboree, but never really materialized as such, reported that 325,000 jobs [...]

Eurozone Data Continues to Print Weak originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

France Has a Successful Bond Auction

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:19:03 -0500

Front and center this morning, the euro (EUR) has plunged overnight, and now sits 2-cents below where it was yesterday when I was writing the Pfennig. France auctioned bonds this morning, and had to ratchet up the yield, as many buyers are afraid of the rumors that France’s AAA rating is about to be slashed. [...]

France Has a Successful Bond Auction originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning, published by Agora Financial provides over 400,000 global readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Comparing the US and Eurozone Debts

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:03:50 -0500

Right out of the starter blocks this morning, the euro (EUR) has broken through that trading range it held last week (1.3350-1.3450), to the downside, as the ratings agency Moody’s warned the Eurozone that it would begin to review each member. I told you on Friday that I didn’t believe that the Eurozone leaders had [...]

Comparing the US and Eurozone Debts originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning is published by Agora Financial and provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Did the Jobless Rate Really Fall?

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:15:55 -0500

I’ll probably be all alone when I make this statement, but, then I don’t follow the trumpeter anyway… What a crock the Jobs report was last week! When will the major media figure this all out? Probably never, because they don’t have real investigative reporters any longer… But here’s what I’m talking about, folks… The [...]

Did the Jobless Rate Really Fall? originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Rate Cut Week Next Week?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:39:19 -0500

OK… It’s a Jobs Jamboree Friday… (Doesn’t it seem like we just did this?) The experts are looking for the economy to have created 125,000 jobs in November… Hmmm… While that would be nice to see, I doubt it has legs to stand on… IF, we really count the jobs created correctly… Remember that in [...]

Rate Cut Week Next Week? originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

SNB Threatens to Weaken Franc Again

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:38:08 -0500

Grunting and pointing… That’s about what the trading in currencies has been since yesterday morning… A tight trading range has formed around the euro (EUR), and that keeps everyone else corralled too. The euro tried a couple of times yesterday to mount a rally, but each time was knocked back down. The markets are in [...]

SNB Threatens to Weaken Franc Again originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Greece Forms a New Government

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:34:20 -0500

It’s raining on the Eurozone leaders again this morning. To get you caught up, let me go back to what happened since I signed off on Friday morning. First of all Greek Prime Minister (PM) Papandreou, did receive a positive Confidence Vote from his Parliament, regarding the Eurozone Grand Plan… But there was a caveat [...]

Greece Forms a New Government originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Where’s the Economic Growth We Were Promised?

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 11:24:53 -0400

Have you ever wondered, at least recently, if the markets are just playing games with investors? It’s like a game of good cop, bad cop… On one day, the markets will be all about the euro (EUR), and the prospects for a solution to the Eurozone debt problems, and without any notice, turn on the [...]

Where’s the Economic Growth We Were Promised? originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Dollar Positions Get Crushed!

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:40:08 -0400

Last night, with the Cardinals having a day off, I spent a ton of time reading and watching the markets overseas… I saw glimpses of what I might see this morning… But what has actually happened overnight and this morning, I never saw coming… The dollar has been sent to the woodshed, and the selling [...]

Dollar Positions Get Crushed! originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

SNB Intervenes to Weaken the Franc

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:53:10 -0400

It was a pretty sight to see gold turn around yesterday morning and head north once again… To watch these gyrations is pretty amazing sometimes… And I love it when an asset is down in the dumps in the morning, but rallies throughout the day… And conversely I strongly dislike when assets fall in price [...]

SNB Intervenes to Weaken the Franc originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over 400,000 readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

How to Profit From German Threat to Withhold Aid to Greece

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 08:32:36 -0400

During a speech made before Germany's Parliament, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned that Greece must meet all the conditions that it previously agreed to in order to receive the next round of funds from its rescue package.Greece is ha...

How to Profit from Swiss Central Bank’s Market Intervention

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:03:03 -0400

The markets were shocked yesterday when Switzerland's central bank announced that it was putting a ceiling on how high it would allow the Swiss franc to trade in relation to the euro.The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has warned investors for months with ...

The Swiss Hammer

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 04:52:36 -0400

The cage fight between the SNB and FX speculators continue with the most recent round seeing the SNB coming out fists flying aiming for a knock-out. Quote BloombergThe Swiss central bank said it’s setting a minimum franc exchange against ...

BOE Unanimously Leaves Rates Unchanged

Wed, 17 Aug 2011 13:32:12 -0400

Good day… And a Wonderful Wednesday to you! Well… We had the Swiss National Bank (SNB) meet already this morning, and Bank of England (BOE) minutes released, so it’s been a busy morning overseas… Here on our trading desk, we’ve been swamped, but that’s all good, eh? I’m really busy and on top of that, [...]

BOE Unanimously Leaves Rates Unchanged originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides 400,000+ readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Follow the Daily Reckoning on Facebook.

Japan’s Economy Grows at 1.3%

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:31:23 -0400

So much has happened in the past three weeks; pretty unbelievable, eh? Gold traded above $1,800 and then got smacked down, the US credit rating was downgraded a notch, the debt debacle worsened, Italy and Spain are getting tarred with the same brush used for the bailed out countries of Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, and [...]

Japan’s Economy Grows at 1.3% originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides 400,000+ readers economic news, market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas. Follow the Daily Reckoning on Facebook.

Random Shots – All Back to Square One?

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 02:00:00 -0400

Starting a new job and settling in a new city/flat has proved a little more unsettling for my blogging efforts than I had expected. Anyway, what better time to return to the fray when the SP500 completes its worst run in a long time returning to levels...

Eurozone Finance Chiefs Deep-Six the Euro!

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 13:10:20 -0400

The currency mini-rebound did well yesterday, all day… But then came the European session this morning, and more problems with the Greek bailout, and the bickering going on back and forth between the Eurozone Finance Chiefs… All this has deep-sixed the euro (EUR) this morning. The single unit is down 125 cents! So, when I [...]

Eurozone Finance Chiefs Deep-Six the Euro! originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning provides over half a million subscribers with literary economic perspective, global market analysis, and contrarian investment ideas.

Monetary Policy Discrepancy Among Fed Heads

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 12:09:03 -0500

Whoa! Did I get a nasty email yesterday, simply because I said that, in “my opinion,” I didn’t see the stuff going on in the Middle-East working out for us here in the US… Apparently, the reader thought that I was taking issue with democracy… Nope! And if democracy is what happens in that region, [...]

Monetary Policy Discrepancy Among Fed Heads originally appeared in the Daily Reckoning. The Daily Reckoning has published articles on the impact of quantitative easing, bakken oil, and hyperinflation.