Submitted by Unsettling Economics

How is it that the bastards that run the country are able to turn their mistakes into opportunities? Energy shortages demand the elimination of environmental restrictions. Food shortages demand more GE crops. The housing crisis requires tax cuts for corporations.
Nothing for the people who are being plowed under by the crisis. All […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Regardless of time frame, anyone expecting investing or trading success needs a plan.  Two of our favorite and featured sources — Dr. Brett Steenbarger and Bill Rempel — take apparently different viewpoints in a discussion about discretionary trading versus system trading.
It is a constructive discussion.  Somewhat to our amazement, we […]

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Submitted by The Capital Spectator
Veteran investors–otherwise known as anyone who’s gotten burned at least once in the capital markets–are rightly skeptical when someone comes along and says they’ve got the money game figured out. Someone says that, or its equivalent, about once every three seconds these days.
The reasons for staying skeptical are no less legion. […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
I was struck at how Federal government interest payments to the rest of the world have risen even as interest rates have fallen.

Figure 1: Federal interest payments (red, right scale) and Federal interest payments to Rest-of-World (green, right scale), and three month Treasury yields in percentage points (blue, left scale). Source: BEA, NIPA […]

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Submitted by Econbrowser
A couple of minor remarks on recession indicators.
First, Mark Perry noted the plunge in the price of the Intrade recession contract at Thursday’s close. This seems to have represented a huge but transient move through the outstanding list of bid offers, with most recent trades at or above 50%. It’s a reminder not […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
RUSSIA TODAY–Works by Russian artists have fetched more than $17 million at Christie’s auction house in New York, $5 million more than organizers had been expecting.
Experts say there’s been soaring interest in Russian art recently. Sotheby’s sales of Russian works have quadrupled in the last four years.
MP: More bling… in Russia…..

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

The number of Russian billionaires has almost doubled in a year to reach 110, Forbes magazine reported, bolstering the country’s reputation for conspicuous wealth.
MP: Bling, bling, it’s the new “blingshoviks!” A post from the heart of Russia, in Togliatti, on the Volga River, behind the old “Iron Curtain.”

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Checking in from the Atlanta airport, on my way to Togliatti, Russia. I will post as I get a chance over the next 10 days during my travels to Russia!!

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Submitted by Businomics Blog
Here’s a little puzzle for you: why are energy prices NOT bleeding over into core inflation?  Most goods on the shelf are delivered by truck, and fuel costs have skyrocketed.  Yet inflation outside of food and energy isn’t so bad.  Yes, it’s edging up, but still is below the inflation rates of […]

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Submitted by A Dash of Insight
Market sentiment is an important variable both for traders and investors.  Simply put, if nearly everyone is bullish, who is left to buy?  If there is a high level of bearish sentiment, asset allocations can shift to stocks both rapidly and dramatically.
Readers of “A Dash” know that we use different […]

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