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2010 Market Could Be Greatest Bull Of Modern Age by: Kevin Mulhern January 02, 2010 Reading through most of the 'X Things That Will Happen in 2010' posts, it is clear that a lot of commentary is cautious going into the New Year. No question that the world still faces massive financial imbalances that could provide significant headwinds for growth over the next decade. Additionally, a blow up in an emerging market such as China could make the this decade worse than the one we just exited. But if one can see through the fog of war that has permeated...

Are You Ready For A Stock Market Crash Of 2010? Stock-Markets / Stock Markets 2010 Dec 31, 2009 - 01:33 PM By: Oakshire Financial Nick Thomas writes: With the precipitous tail end of 2008’s crash extending into March 2009 (and the relentless rise over the rest of the year), it hasn’t even remotely resembled a “normal” year for stocks. Rising from the depths of gloom and abject terror that started the year, the bulls have taken charge and steadily driven the index higher in an nearly unbroken straight line. If you bought the S&P in March, you’d be enjoying a...

Hmmmm.... Someone smelled a bit of smoke yesterday, but the real fire sale was this morning..... To put this in perspective that issue traded nearly 8 million shares today, against a normal volume of 1/10th that. PHK is a closed-end PIMCO fund. What's in there? As of September 30th, Pimco disclosed the holdings - have a look.... There's a pretty good mix of "stuff", including a fair bit of mortgage-related exposure. What would prompt "someone" to unload nearly $80 million bucks worth of this issue more-or-less "all at once" earlier today - and with what looks like a market order...

Trying To Revive An Economic Corpse By Bill Bonner 12/28/09 Ouzilly, France – We’re coming to the end of the year… What have we learned? Here’s how we would put it, a four-word lesson that applies to almost everything: “It’s Not That Simple.” We were on pretty solid ground – at least as far as understanding what was going on in the markets and the economy – up until the middle of 2009. The Bubble Epoque led to the Bust Epoque…just as we thought it would. But our view was too simplistic. We expected the feds to react…and stocks to...

Adjusted For Inflation, Dow's Gains Are Puny By E.S. BROWNING December 26,2009 Many investors realize that stocks have been among the worst investments of the past decade. But they may not realize quite how bad the decade was, because most people forget about the effects of inflation. Despite its 2009 rebound, the Dow Jones Industrial Average today stands at just 10520.10, no higher than in 1999. And that is without counting consumer-price inflation. In 1999 dollars, the Dow is only at about 8200 and would have to rise another 28% or so to return to 1999 levels. Using today's...

Prepared For An Exceptional Correction By Bill Bonner 12/22/09 Paris, France – The price of gold fell $15 yesterday, to close below $1,100. We expected a correction in the gold market. But we thought it would come along with a correction in the stock market. Stocks rose 85 points on the Dow yesterday. We take this as a warning: something is going on that we don’t understand. That said, there’s a lot going on that we don’t understand. But the broad patterns generally make sense. Boom was followed by bust. As dear readers know, the force of a correction is...

Stocks Up Despite Downward GDP Revision By Sung Moss 12/22/09 - 09:51 AM EST NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks opened to the upside Tuesday, as investors appeared to discount data showing that the nation's economy grew at a slower pace than previously estimated during the third quarter. More on ^DJI Market Activity Micron Technology Inc| MU UPAlcoa Inc.| AA DOWNDow Jones Industrial Average| ^DJI UPThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39 points, or 0.4%, to 10,453. The S&P 500 added 4 points, or 0.4%, to 1118, while the Nasdaq improved 11 points, or 0.5%, to 2248. A final revision on...

In Asia, 2010 Likely To Be As Bad As 1998 by: Peter Cooper December 20, 2009 The Hong Kong Monetary Authority warned in its latest quarterly report that the city may face ’sharp corrections’ in asset prices if hot money from the dollar carry trade decides to make a quick exit. The Hang Seng Index is up 50 per cent this year, while house prices have surged by almost 30 per cent. Hong Kong has been a major beneficiary of the global dollar carry trade as well as the Chinese stimulus package equivalent to half of GDP in the first...

Why Stresses To The Global Economy Will Push Oil To $40 Euan MearnsDec. 18, 2009, 6:31 AM(This guest post was originally published by Euan Mearns at The Oil Drum. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.) Figure 1 Oil supply - demand - price chart, Jan. 2002 to Nov. 2009. See text for explanation. Click to enlarge and open in separate browser window. In February this year, global oil production / demand hit an interim low of 84.0 million barrels per day (mmbpd) and the average price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) that...

Friday Outlook: Scroogy Swap Prices Darken Christmas by: Philip Davis December 18, 2009 Where is our Santa Claus rally? We usually have one. Even last year the Dow went from 8,149 on Dec 1st to finish at 8,776 on Dec 31st. This year, we’re lower than we were on Thanksgiving and challenging the 10,200 line, the lowest we’ve been since Nov 9th. Why has Santa Claus forsaken us? Most likely, it’s because we already got our Christmas present in November, when the Dow ran from 9,712 on the 2nd to 10,406 on the 16th. That was when we threw in...

As The Dow Stocks Index Goes, So Goes The Country Stock-Markets / Stock Index Trading Dec 18, 2009 - 10:08 AM By: INO The Dow has managed to claw back 50% of the losses that occurred in 2007 and 2008. The question now is, what's ahead? In my new video I share with you some of the ideas that I'm looking at for this index. I believe we are at a very important crossroads and would not be surprised to see this market lose ground in the next 3 to 6 months. In the video I also show you exactly...

RPT-GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar Rises, Asian Shares Steady After Fed Wed Dec 16, 2009 10:02pm EST By Masayuki Kitano* Year-end position unwinding lifts dollar vs euro * Dollar rises broadly, hits 3-mth high vs euro * Calm reaction to Fed's cautiously upbeat statement * Asian shares broadly steady, Nikkei hits 7-wk high TOKYO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The dollar rose and hit a three-month high against the euro on Thursday and Asian shares were broadly steady after the Federal Reserve voiced some optimism about a stabilising economy. The Fed on Wednesday left the benchmark interest rate near zero as expected and reaffirmed...

Has The Stock Market Finally Woken Up To The European Crackup And The Surging Dollar? Joe WeisenthalDec. 15, 2009, 4:33 PM Stocks weren't down by that much today -- the Dow was just down 50 -- so there's no reason to get too freaked out yet. But we wonder if just possibly the market is waking up to the new world that's emerged in the last couple of weeks. Gold is at a 4-week low. Oil is below $70. The dollar is surging. Unemployment in the US is tapering. The Euro appears to be breaking up (it's not yet, but...

U.S. Housing Underwater, Securitized, And Screwed by The "Pass The Trash" Strategy Housing-Market / US Housing Dec 15, 2009 - 04:48 AM By: Mike Shedlock Calculated Risk had an interesting post last Saturday about Refinancing with Negative Equity. His post refers to an article written by David Streitfeld from the NY Times Interest Rates Are Low, but Banks Balk at Refinancing citing among other things the plights of Mark Belvedere who owes $235,000 on a condo that would sell for barely half that today, and Andrew Knapp who has tried twice to refinance and failed. From the Times... Mr. Belvedere...

Obama Administration Can't Decide Whether The Recession Is Over, But It Wants Banks To Lever Up Joe WeisenthalDec. 13, 2009, 2:39 PM Politico recognizes inconsistency emanating out of the Obama administration based on comments from today's Sunday morning yak-fests. Two of President Obama’s top economic advisers disagreed Sunday about whether the recession had ended. Lawrence Summers, director of the National Economic Council, flatly said that it had. "Today, everybody agrees that the recession is over, and the question is what the pace of the expansion is going to be," Summers said on ABC's "This Week." But Christina Romer, who heads...

Nikkei Falls As Yen Gains; JAL And ANA Rise Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:09pm * Nikkei down as yen gains on dollar, futures sold * BOJ tankan market neutral, but lower capex a concern * JAL, ANA gain after "open skies" deal TOKYO, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei stock average lost 0.8 percent on Monday, with exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) falling as the yen erased earlier losses to rise against the dollar. Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T) gained 2.1 percent and rival All Nippon Airways (9202.T) also rose after the United States and Japan reached a landmark...

Even if the Federal Reserve gets around to strengthening the dollar--which would do wonders to get the economy really moving again--we still face a mammoth and growing problem: the government's increasing domination and distortion of the capital markets. It's not only the need to finance Uncle Sam's deficits that crowds out other credit seekers in the marketplace. It's also the proliferation of government entities (think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), government loan guarantees, tax credits and the government's growing sway over the banking sector. Even if Washington's red ink were back to the levels of a couple of years ago,...

Rosenberg: Market Volatility Will Double And Stocks Will Collapse Vincent FernandoDec. 11, 2009, 5:06 AM | Having been on the wrong side of the market in 2009, Gluskin Sheff's David Rosenberg is doubling down his bearish bet. It's the smartest course of action for him at this point -- so expect market volatility to double in 2010: Bloomberg: “We’ll be in a year of heightened volatility,” Rosenberg, chief economist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates Inc. in Toronto, said in an interview. “We’ll see periods in 2010 where the VIX will be north of 30 in a period of risk aversion...

Dozens of people among the throngs of jubilant fans hold crudely made cardboard signs featuring the words "I Need Tickets." Strangely, these people who, to an outsider, appear to be in desperate need of tickets for the big game, hold numerous tickets high above their head so everyone can see. These people are the noble ticket scalpers. They are a people scorned by athletic organizations, lawmakers, and many fans. What are they doing to merit such ill will and legal persecution? Are they truly unscrupulous, greedy parasites who dupe fans and injure the athletic organizations? The United States does not...

Wall Street Falls On Recovery Uncertainty On 2:38 pm EST, Tuesday December 8, 2009 By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Tuesday after a disappointing outlook from 3M Co and weak domestic sales at McDonald's Corp fanned worries that sluggish consumer spending threatened the economic recovery. Equities also faced pressure from a stronger U.S. dollar as investors sought more safe-haven assets amid worries about Dubai's unresolved debt problems and Fitch Ratings' downgrade of Greece's bond rating. Diversified manufacturer 3M (NYSE:MMM - News) fell 1.2 percent to $76.98 after it gave a 2009 outlook that fell short of...

Stock Market And Gold Crash, Are We About To Repeat 2008? Stock-Markets / Financial Crash Dec 07, 2009 - 09:34 PM By: Graham_Summers A few weeks ago on November 10, I wrote an article Three Reasons Gold Might be Making a Head Fake. In it, I noted that Gold’s recent rally was largely due to Dollar devaluation (Gold had failed to hit new highs in other world currencies) as well as several other factors that disconfirmed the precious metal’s explosive rise. I wrote: Unless we start seeing confirmations of Gold’s breakout coming from other precious metals or gold mining stocks,...

Yellow metal's boosters see no problem with recent correction NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold took a $40-plus beating on Friday, but the gold bugs (not for the first time) are dug in and determined. The trigger for Friday's fall, of course, was the big U.S. dollar surge following unexpectedly good (or, at least, not absolutely awful) employment data. But the gold sell-off was broad. Kitco's Gold Index indicates that (by their reckoning) only $14.90 of gold's $46.10 decline was caused by the dollar rise. The effect of this was to turn down The Privateer's famous Long Term US$ 5X3 Point-and-Figure...

80% Chance Of A Market Crash In The Next Year John P. Hussman, PhDDec. 7, 2009, 6:12 AM The following is an excerpt from fund manager John Hussman's weekly letter. You can read the whole thing here. I noted last week that from a Bayesian perspective, I would estimate a probability of nearly 80% that we will observe a second round of credit losses coupled with a market plunge in the coming year or so. That doesn't imply an all-out “crash,” but more likely a retreat similar in size to what we have often observed following other post-crash rebounds (about...

RPT-GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar Trims Gains, US Job Data Helps Stocks Sun Dec 6, 2009 10:23pm EST By Susan Fenton* Dollar trims gains as investors pocket profits * Japan shares up, U.S. jobs data underpins sentiment * Gold extends losses prompted by dollar rebound HONG KONG, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The dollar trimmed gains early on Monday as investors pocketed profits after Friday's rally but strong U.S. jobs data lifted sentiment across Asian financial markets, encouraging investors to move into riskier assets. The dollar eased after posting its biggest one-day gain this year on Friday, jumping 2.5 percent on news that U.S....

China: Don't Panic, We'll Keep Buying Tons Of Dollars Vincent FernandoDec. 5, 2009, 2:18 AM The Chinese government has come out to remind the market that it will keep buying dollats as its core currency reserve holding, even though it believes the dollar will depreciate in the long term. WSJ: "The composition remains as it was before. There is no major change" in the reserves, said Wang Xiaoyi, vice director of SAFE, which oversees the reserves. "We are not making any big adjustments in direction. Our operations are still as usual, meaning they follow the existing forex reserves management goal,"...

Stocks Soar On Jobs Report By Melinda Peer 12/04/09 - 09:36 AM EST NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stocks broke out of the gate strong on Friday after U.S. job losses eased at a swifter pace than expected in November. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 101.65 points, or nearly 1%, at 10,467.8 at the start of trading on Friday. The S&P 500 added 12.19 points, or 1.1%, to 1112.11 and the Nasdaq gained 30.75 points, or 1.4%, to 2203.89. The U.S. economy lost 11,000 jobs in November, which was much better than the 125,000 job losses anticipated by...

Nikkei Slips 0.4% After Breaking Above 10,000 Thu Dec 3, 2009 8:23pm ESTBy Aiko Hayashi TOKYO, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average slipped 0.4 percent on Friday after briefly going above 10,000 for the first time in five weeks, as exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) took a breather after sharp gains. Takefuji Corp (8564.T) tumbled more than 8 percent after the Asahi newspaper reported that the struggling consumer finance firm has significantly scaled back lending to preserve cash as it faces difficulty raising funds. "A short-cover rally, which was supported by foreign investors who were relieved to...

Stocks Are 40% Overvalued, Says Smithers Henry BlodgetDec. 3, 2009, 6:44 AM Stocks have jumped about 70% from the March lows. As we've noted, they have also blasted past most estimates of fair value, which are generally around 900 on the S&P 500 on a cyclically-adjusted price-earnings ratio (see professor Robert Shiller's chart below) London economist Andrew Smithers says valuations are even more extreme. In a recent interview with Kate Welling of Weeden & Co., he put the overvaluation at 40%: Would you mind running through how you arrive at that 40% overpriced valuation? Certainly. The EPS on the S&P...

The Nikkei Explodes 3.8% Higher Joe WeisenthalDec. 3, 2009, 4:57 AM Forget that the Yen is sitting at a 14-year high, or that the country remains a gigantic mess. Buyers went nuts in Japan last night. WSJ: Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up 3.8%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3%, South Korea's Kospi Composite gained 1.5% and New Zealand's NZX-50 finished 0.1% higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended up 1.2%, while China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% and Taiwan's main index edged up 0.1%. In foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar remained supported against the yen on speculation Japanese authorities may step in...

"Most of the energy of political work is devoted to correcting the effects of mismanagement of government." - Milton Friedman The art of medicine requires the health care provider to make an accurate diagnosis in order to formulate an effective treatment plan. This is also true of the art of policy making and is magnified by the fact that one piece of legislation affects the lives of millions of individuals whereas the art of medicine affects only one. Proponents of the health care reform bills coming out of Congress claim the bills will decrease medical cost growth over time, making...

Some of the most controversial financing practices of the credit-bubble years – from cov lite loans to Pik toggle notes and dividend recap exercises – have returned to Wall Street, stoking fears that debt markets are growing overheated. The techniques fell into disrepute during the financial crisis because they were based to varying degrees on the same rosy expectations that encouraged companies and consumers to assume what proved to be crippling levels of debt. In a cov light – short for covenant light – loan, borrowers are granted credit with few, if any, conditions. Pik toggle transactions make it possible...

London Trader challenges CFTC -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2009...spotlight.html SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2009 A London Silver Trader Challenges The CFTC The following letter is from a London-based silver trader to CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton. I wanted to post this letter, which appeared in Friday's Midas report, for those who do not subscribe to http://www.lemetropolecafe.com/. Anyone who follows the gold and silver markets knows about the severe imbalance which has occurred for several years between the size of the short interest in gold and silver futures vs. the amount of physical gold and silver sitting in Comex warehouses. As an example, JP Morgan and...

Dubai is asking creditors to accept a six-month suspension on debt repayments for its severely cash-strapped conglomerate Dubai World. The government of the Gulf emirate has also appointed consultants Deloitte to restructure state-run Dubai World's operations. The group includes property developer Nakheel, which built one of the state's most ostentatious projects, the palm-shaped, man-made residential islands of the Palm Jumeirah. The conglomerate also includes DP World, owner of the former P&O ports operator. According to Nakheel, Dubai World has $59bn (£35bn) of liabilities, a large proportion of Dubai's total debt of $80bn (£47bn). The emirate's government said in a statement:...

Dow Futures down 327 as of 2:41AM. NASDAQ down 70.75. S&P down 41.70.

Negative Interest Rates Are No Cause For Panic Vincent FernandoNov. 22, 2009, 3:08 AM We've highlighted before why recent negative treasury bill yields aren't sustainable, aren't reason to panic, and are just due to end of the year window dressing by financial companies. The excellent fixed income blog Across the Curve takes it further, highlighting commentary from CRT Research that basically supports this view. They interestingly add that the negative yields we're seeing might be partially caused by the fact that we have less investment banks and more 'plain vanilla' financial companies with December 31st year-ends. It's a great example...

Meredith Whitney: "I Haven't Been This Bearish In A Year" (XLF) Joe WeisenthalNov. 16, 2009, 3:38 PM XLF Nov 16 2009, 03:59 PM EST 14.83 Change % Change +0.17 +1.16% Oof. Financials are taking a hit after Meredith Whitney told CNBC that she "hasn't been this bearish in a year." She's also calling for a "double dip" recession. StreetInsider bullet-points her comments: * the banking sector is "not adequately capitalized today" * sees another leg down in the residential real estate market when mortgage rates/prices begin moving lower. To this point, Meredith said she feels that there is still a...

Stock Market Still Riding A Thermal Wave by: Benign Brodwicz November 15, 2009 Birds can stay aloft for hours riding thermals or updrafts of warm air. I look at the human responses to adaptation level effects in much the same way. When things are better than what we have in recent memory, we feel good, relatively speaking. The stock market now is riding an emotional thermal upward and may continue to do so for a while. Of course, it is also riding a tsunami of Fed-supplied liquidity that has engendered a new carry trade in paper assets. My best guess...

Wall Street's Armageddon ChimeraFriday, November 13. 2009 Posted by Karl Denninger in Corruption at 08:44 For how long will The American People tolerate the "do what I want or we will detonate the world" claims from "Big Business"? “If the U.S. dismantles our leading institutions, then it will destroy the American financial center, which is largely anchored in New York,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the New York partnership. “It’s just frightening.” Arrest that woman and charge her with extortion and terroristic threats made against The United States. Then ask who would like to be next. I'm tired...

SELL Signal Alerts For Stocks, Bonds, Gold and Crude Oil Stock-Markets / Stocks Bear Market Nov 13, 2009 - 01:39 AM By: Anthony_Cherniawski U.S. equity benchmark indexes fell from 13-month highs as energy shares slumped following bigger- than-estimated growth in oil stockpiles, erasing an earlier advance spurred by Hewlett-Packard Co.’s takeover of 3Com Corp. The dollar rose the most versus the euro since August. “The fundamentals just aren’t quite there yet,” said Sarah Hunt, a money manager who helps oversee about $6.5 billion for Purchase, New York-based Alpine Mutual Funds. “You still have a lot of concerns about the demand...

Asian Shares Open Mixed, With Japan Down On Consumer Woes REUTERS Published: November 12, 2009 TOKYO — The Nikkei 225 stock average in Tokyo lost 0.5 percent on Friday, weighed down by selling of exporters like the Sony Corporation after concerns about consumer spending hit Wall Street and the yen strengthened slightly against the dollar. Shares in Hong Kong rose, with the Hang Seng opening up about 0.6 percent, while stocks in Shanghai were flat. U.S. stocks fell on Thursday as a stronger dollar weighed on commodity-linked shares and a guarded outlook from Wal-Mart Stores led to worries about consumer...

GLOBAL MARKETS-Gold At New High On Weak Dollar, Shares Slip Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:39am EST By Susan Fenton HONG KONG, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Gold rose above $1,120 an ounce to a fresh record high on Thursday as the U.S. dollar wavered near 15-month lows, while Asian shares lost ground as investors took profits after four days of gains. Financial spreadbetters expected British and French shares to follow Asian markets lower but saw a higher opening for Germany's DAX share index U.S. equity futures slipped 0.4 percent. The dollar fell to a 15-month low in early trade before recouping...

Gold Blasts To New Record, Stocks And Economies Soar Henry BlodgetNov. 11, 2009, 6:08 AM You can find things to quibble and worry about, but so far, globally, this would qualify as one hell of a recovery. Bloomberg: Stocks rose, sending the benchmark index for emerging markets to its biggest six-day rally since July, and commodities gained after China’s industrial production and Japan’s machinery orders climbed. Gold advanced to a record. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index added 1 percent at 10:18 a.m. in London, boosting its six-day increase to 7.7 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were...

Gold Bars Selling Like Hotcakes At Harrods Henry BlodgetNov. 8, 2009, 9:49 AM Gold smashed through an all-time high of $1,100 an ounce on Friday, bringing some solace to gold bugs who have been losing money on the metal since the 1980s. Gold still hasn't come anywhere near its late-1980's peak on an inflation-adjusted basis ($1,800 or so), belying the general theory that it's a great inflation hedge. As the world gold frenzy really takes hold, however, $2,000-an-ounce predictions are coming fast and furious, so there's always hope. The NYT surveys the gold landscape, checking in on the ultimate symbol...

Sell-off, Telecom Meltdown Continue By Akash Joshi The stock market saw the steepest fall after August on Tuesday as benchmark indices fell for the sixth straight trading session on huge sell-off in heavyweight stocks and weak cues from global markets. The pressure on telecom stocks continued as Reliance Communications (RCOM.NS : 165.8 0) fell 5.7% to close at Rs 165.8, in it seventh straight day of losses. Though its rival Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL.BO : 299.95 0) closed on the positive zone, the pressure on telecom stocks persisted. In the current year, RComm slid by 27% and Bharti by 16% when...

Asian And European Stocks Tank Joe WeisenthalNov. 3, 2009, 5:43 AM Yesterday's crazy trading ended surprisingly higher, but markets overseas couldn't follow through. Asian markets generally ended lower, with Hong Kong down 1.8%, Europe is sharply lower as well, with all major indices down over 1.3%. In the US, futures are following suit, pointing straight down.[snip]

Technical Analyst: The World Is About To End Henry BlodgetNov. 3, 2009, 6:59 AMSince expressing (ridicule) skepticism about technical analysis a few months ago, we have been politely badgered by reader John Brims, who has been sending us charts and murmuring about wedges. We will confess that we have not been listening too carefully, because, well, because we think technical analysis is a bunch of bullsh**. But John has been persistent, so we'll give him his chance to shine. John says the chart below indicates that the world is about to end. So hang on to your hat! Henry, I...

Nikkei (Japan Stocks) Slides On Strong Yen, Wall St Drop Sun Nov 1, 2009 7:09pm EST TOKYO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - The Nikkei average slipped 1.3 percent at the open on Monday, with shares falling across the board, hit by a stronger yen and after Wall Street tumbled on weak consumer spending data and renewed worries about Citigroup's (C.N) balance sheet. The benchmark Nikkei .N225 shed 130.97 points to 9,903.77 at the open before falling to its lowest point in three weeks.[snip]The Nikkei is down 2.5% as I post this. See here.

High Exposure To Equities? Be Careful Out There By: The Housing Time Bomb November 01, 2009 I just wanted to hop on tonight and issue a warning to anyone who has participated in this rally or has a high exposure to equities. The price action Friday was absolutely frightening! I guess it was perfect timing considering Halloween was Saturday night. IMO it is time to lighten up considerably if you are on the long side. As most of you know, this blog focuses more on the macro/long term outlook on the economy. I have remained consistently bearish because we have...

Global Markets In Review: Reversal In Financial Markets Prieur du Plessis November 01, 2009 Rewind the movie to before the stock market lows of March 9: Stocks down, corporate bonds down, commodities and gold down, emerging-market currencies down, safe havens in fashion, including the U.S. dollar and government bonds. In short, risky assets closed sharply lower over the past few days as concerns mounted over the outlook for central bank policy and the sustainability of the global economic recovery, with investors only warming momentarily to the U.S. emerging from recession as shown by the Q3 GDP report (announced on the...

Asia Shares Dip, Weak Oil Hits Resource Firms On 12:23 am EDT, Tuesday October 27, 2009 By Susan Fenton HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian shares followed Wall Street lower on Tuesday with resources stocks under pressure as the price of oil stayed below $79 and with investors growing increasingly worried about the recovery of the world economy. Japan's Nikkei index (Osaka:^N225 - News) was down 1.3 percent with shares in Mitsubishi (Tokyo:8058.T - News) skidding 4.3 percent as trading houses were hurt by lower oil and commodity prices in the past day. Oil was at $78.78, below $79 a barrel...