Free Republic

U.S. stocks closed deep in the red on Friday as global growth concerns accelerated selling pressure to push the Dow into correction territory. The Dow Jones industrial average closed at session lows, off 531 points and in correction territory for the first time since 2011 as all blue chips declined. The last time the index closed more than 500 points lower was on Aug. 10, 2011. In the last five years, the index has only had four instances with closing losses of more than 400 points. "For investors the momentum and the drive of the market is now lower (than)...

Inflation has been notably absent from the economy this summer, despite bullish moves in gold and a continued debate over the tapering of asset purchases by the Federal Reserve. According to Art Cashin, director of floor operations at UBS Financial Services, the central bank's effect on the financial system has worrying parallels to the period leading up to the Great Depression. "The weak data that we've gotten, particularly the housing on Friday, hints that tapering may be held back or may not be a factor, " Cashin told "Squawk on the Street" on Monday. "Many of the proponents of gold...

The price of Bitcoin, the bizarre digital currency, has been skyrocketing. And everyone's calling it a bubble. But it's not like most other bubbles. Art Cashin, UBS' man on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, contrasts the Bitcoin bubble to the Dutch tulip mania of the 17th century. Here's Cashin: Trading Tulips In Real Time – It is rare that we get to see a bubble-like phenomenon trade tick for tick in real time. Usually it's kind of regional aggregate pricing like real estate reports. But, all that may be changing – before our very eyes – quite literally....

Art Cashin: A Dormant US Inflation Indicator Just Spiked, And It's Got Me Thinking Of Weimar And Zimbabwe Sam RoFebruary 13, 2013, 3:58 AM Veteran trader Art Cashin has been more concerned about the threat of inflation in the U.S. than most. In a recent interview with Eric King of King World News, he notes that the once dormant threat of inflation could be waking up. From King World News: ...That having been said, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis puts out what is called the ‘Monetary Stock.’ It is the ‘raw material’ of the money supply, and it...

ART CASHIN: The Unemployed Are Now Going On Disability And It's Costing The Government Billions Sam RoFebuary 14, 2012 In this morning's Cashin's Comments, Art Cashin points to some disturbing research regarding the recent bump in disability benefit applications: I’m Sick Of Being Unemployed - A couple of strange and rather disquieting reports circulated among the Friends of Fermentation yesterday. The topic was unemployment or, more specifically, where do those people go who have stopped looking for work. Their absence is credited with distorting the unemployment rate and making it lower than most expect or believe. The reports I allude...

Confused why Tim Geithner has seemingly booked a weekly round trip ticket to Brussels to give the Eurocrats their weekly pep talk (much to his endless humiliation as Europe Tells Geithner To Take His Advice And Shove It reminds us)? Art Cashin explains not only this, but why the biggest threat to Obama's reelection chances is not who the GOP candidate is in November, but what happens in the EURUSD as early as today. L astly, by implication, Cashin shoots down any hope that US decoupling from Europe is even remotely possible... something anyone who actually has seen a full...

The take from UBS floor guy Art Cashin probably perfectly sums up the Wall Street take on the new millionaire tax. The Millionaire’s Tax - Three Observations - The expected proposal by the President to tax annual income above a million dollars may be too cute by half. It clearly looks like a “populist” initiative and a clever political maneuver ... it looks so much like an “in your face” political challenge to his opponents, that may have evaporated all that talk about “constructive compromise” ... Third, the proposal flies in the face of the lessons of history. According to...

A very good summation of voter attitudes towards entitlements and spending from UBS floor guy Art Cashin: That “Made Up” Quote Looks Truer And Truer Each Day – The continuing loud cautions of “Don’t Tread On MyEntitlements”, and the imminence of a majority of voters not paying any taxes, recalls yet again the rather prophetic but apparently fictitious quote of Alexander Tytler... "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates...

The graphic below David Gregory’s speaks of “despair over rescue efforts.” There’s evidence this morning that the hopelessness has reached the MSM–and that it is largely directed at the president himself. Earlier, I noted how Jim Cramer, appearing on Today, accused President Obama of promoting a “radical agenda” that is “the greatest wealth destruction I’ve seen by a president.” Over on Good Morning America, venerable Wall Street hand Art Cashin, chatting with Chris Cuomo, similarly pointed a finger in the White House’s direction. CHRIS CUOMO: You look at this situation, and you point a finger at the government. Their inability...