Marc Faber, the publisher of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, is typically optimistic on equities as an asset class.
However, Faber told CNBC that he expects a correction in global stocks in the near term:
“Markets are overbought, technically they have deteriorated, and we have very heavy insider selling, so I think a correction is coming. ...I don’t think (investors) should be shooting for huge gains, but rat... (more)
Corporate profits that doubled since 2009 have left the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index cheaper than at all 34 peaks since 1989, even as options traders push the cost of protecting against losses to the highest in four years.
Companies in the benchmark gauge of U.S. stocks trade for 14.1 times earnings after advancing 102 percent since March 2009 to an almost four-year high last week, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Valuations are lower than at every 52-week peak since 1989. Tr... (more)
Perhaps this is a signal people are not buying into the easy money induced high. - Chris
The Obama administration will extend mortgage assistance for the first time to investors who bought multiple homes before the market imploded, helping some speculators who drove up prices and inflated the housing bubble.
Landlords can qualify for up to four federally-subsidized loan workouts starting around May, as long as they rent out each house or have plans to fill them, under the revamped Home Affordable Modification Program, also known as HAMP, according to Timothy Massad, t... (more)
If you want to get paid for doing something stupid, just turn to the U.S. government. The U.S. government is paying researchers to play video games, it is paying researchers to study the effects of cocaine on Japanese quail and it has spent millions of dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly. The amount of money that the government wastes is absolutely horrifying. Do you remember all of that political wrangling over the debt ceiling deal last year? Do yo... (more)
After being cited in a Bloomberg article about the impact of falling Wall Street bonuses, Andrew Schiff is feeling the heat from Americans outraged that someone (anyone) who makes $350,000 a year could complain about their lot in life. The story has gone viral, sparked a boatload of copycat pieces and blogs, most of them highly critical of Schiff, who says he's receiv... (more)
Peter Schiff's brother is being vilified because he dared to complain about the skyrocketing cost of living in the US.
Ronald Reagan once famously declared that inflation is a tax, but sadly most Americans did not really grasp what he was talking about. If the American people truly understood what inflation was doing to them, they would be screaming bloody murder about monetary policy. Inflation is an especially insidious tax because it is not just a tax on your income for one year. It is a continual tax on every single dollar that you ow... (more)
Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Peter Hickson, Hong Kong-based head of commodities research at UBS AG, talks about gold prices. He also discusses oil, copper, and agricultural commodities. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)
Anytime Ron Paul sits across from Ben Bernanke you know sparks will fly. Sure enough, they did: starting 3 mins 50 seconds into the clip below, Ron Paul, guns blazing, asks the Chairman if he does his own shopping, if he is aware of what true inflation is, and if he knows that Americans don't trust the government because they are being lied to about inflation... (more)
This month, as unleaded gasoline prices increased for 17 consecutive days (to a national average of $3.647 per gallon - up 11% thus far this year) and West Texas Intermediate crude joined Brent crude in breaking through a $100 per barrel level, energy prices emerged as a full blown political issue. While President Obama conveniently claimed that rising prices were the consequence of an improving economy (they're not, and it isn't) Republican fingers began to point sanctimoniously at current dril... (more)
Treasuries and gold slid while the dollar rose and U.S. equities were little changed after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s remarks to Congress damped speculation of more quantitative easing to help the economy.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield increased four basis points to 1.98 percent, reversing an early drop, and the Dollar Index rose 0.5 percent after falling 0.2 percent earlier. Gold futures sank 4.2 percent to $1,712.50 an ounce, its biggest loss of the ... (more)
This front-page headline from Friday’s San Francisco Chronicle brings to mind the old adage about democracy being two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner: “Voters Willing to Tax Wealthy.”
The article goes on to detail the not-surprising results of a poll in which voters were asked to choose between supporting the governor’s plan to pass... (more)
Have excessive rules and red tape made us all criminals?
John Stossel argues that America has become a country where no one can know what is legal.
Kids who open lemonade stands are now shut down by police. Stossel tries to open a lemonade stand legally in NYC. That was quite an adventure. It takes 65 days to get permission from the Depa... (more)
"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with." - Ayn Rand, "Atlas Shrugged"
Lawmakers in Wyoming have introduced a bill that would compel the state to prepare for a complete collapse of the federal government, laying plans for an alternate currency, a standing army raised via a military draft, and an aircraft carrier.
“House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a ... (more)
John Paulson, the hedge fund manager seeking to rebound from record losses in 2011, told investors his Gold Fund will outperform his other strategies over five years, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
The billionaire, at a meeting yesterday at the Metropolitan Club in New York, said the metal is the best hedge against currency debasement as countries inject money into their economies, said the person, who attended the event and asked not to be named because the i... (more)
Paulson & Co., the hedge fund founded by billionaire John Paulson, cut its stake in the SPDR Gold Trust for the second straight quarter, while billionaire investor George Soros increased his holdings.
Paulson held 17.3 million shares in the exchange-traded fund backed by bullion as of Dec. 31, 15 percent less than the 20.3 million on Sept. 30, Securities and Exchange Commission filings showed. His holdings fell 45 percent from end-June, the first reduction in more than two years. ... (more)
Note, this article is from Feb. 15th, hence the seeming disconnect from the one above.
How is the U.S. economy doing in 2012? Unfortunately, it is not doing nearly as well as the mainstream media would have you believe. Yes, things have stabilized for the moment but this bubble of false hope will not last for long. The long-term trends that are ripping our economy and our financial system to shreds continue unabated. When you step back and look at the broader picture, it is hard to deny that we are in really bad shape and that things are rapidly getting wor... (more)
Last week, the Heritage Foundation published commentary on the number of Americans who pay income tax, and decried the fact that 49.5 percent of Americans are “not represented on a taxable return.” The Daily Mail then picked up the statistics and announced that “HALF of Americans don’t pay income tax despite crippling government debt.”
... (more)
We have been saying it for weeks, and today even the WSJ jumped on the bandwagon: the sole reason why crude prices are surging (RIP European profit margins: with EUR Brent at a record, we can only assume the ECB will pull a 2011 and hike rates in 3-4 months even as it pumps trillions in PIIGS, banks bailout liquidity) is because global liqui... (more)
We loved it as kids — that amazing substance called Silly Putty. I recently found a version in a hotel room the other day, re-branded as Thinking Putty. It turns out that the names differ based on the targeted market segment. In any case, the whole phenomenon is curious. How it is that this seemingly ridiculous stuff could become a product that links the generations?
A closer look reveals that you can learn so much about the way the world works just by looking at this histor... (more)
