Spanish Banks are getting bailed out…so why is everyone so gloomy? It seems that after two years of bailout after bailout, market participants have finally realized that one cannot escape indebtedness by borrowing more money. It is hard to believe it took this long for investors to figure that out, but then again it seems…
Since we last stirred you with our insights on austerity, Europe’s woes have continued with almost all of Southern Europe now reporting negative GDP growth; JP Morgan has embarrassed itself with a loss that CEO Jamie Dimon called stupid; and markets have reacted as we thought they would. While JP Morgan’s highly publicized loss has…
The economic news of late has not been good. Last week the UK officially went into recession, followed this week by Spain. At home we continue to receive mixed signals. Last week’s durable goods report showed a significant pullback, followed by a GDP report worse than most expected, showing the economy grew at a slow…
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve (Fed), gave a speech on Monday that sent the equity markets skyward. He announced to the world that he is going to keep the peddle down and the presses rolling: loose monetary policy is here to stay. The markets applauded, but should they? There is another way to…
Durable goods orders fell the most in three years and your house is still losing value, but don’t worry because consumers seem happy about the whole situation. These were the Strange Bedfellows that greeted us this morning with the release of durable goods orders, the Case-Shiller Home Price index and the consumer confidence index. The…
