By Brian Cronin Continuing our look at Europe, this week we turn our attention to France. France and Germany have had an uneasy relationship, going all the way back to Charlemagne. A number of conflicts over the last thousand years and the rise of nationalism in the 1800s culminated in the Franco-Prussian war and two devastating world wars. In 1931, [...]
I’m traveling today (and a little under the weather to boot) so this will be a fairly short update. I’ve spent the last week visiting clients and potential clients in Augusta, GA and Asheville, NC and before I get started, I’d just like to thank our representatives Larry Hogue and Bob Williams in Augusta and Asheville respectively for their true [...]
The S&P 500 Cap-Weighted Index hit a new 52-week high this week before correcting back to the 20-day moving average. While it did bounce off the technical level on Friday, look for the index to test support at the 1390 level and then at the 50-day MA in anticipation for Bernanke's Jackson Hole speech this coming week. The index is [...]
Precious metals prices are currently fixed on strikes at mines in S Africa. Potential unrest is pushing PM prices higher. In the current weakening global trade environment, is it possible that an increase in worker unrest upsets the supply of metals at exactly when banks are shifting toward gold? Major disruption to platinum is expected from the current strike and [...]
Joe Calhoun passed along the passage below of what now seems both like ancient history and yet stoically relevant. From the preface to the second English edition of Emile Zola's L'Argent (Money) published in 1894: for the rottenness of our financial world has become such a crying scandal, and the inefficiency of our company laws has been so fully demonstrated, [...]
By Brian Cronin: Continuing my tour around Europe, after a look at Spain and Italy, this week it’s Germany’s turn. Germany, as a nation, has had a checkered history as we know all too well. Two hundred years ago, it was a collection of small kingdoms. In 1797 Joseph Haydn composed the music for what would eventually become the Deutschlandlied. [...]
Facebook closed the week on a new low and the press is replete with tales of IPO investors' woes, the demoralizing effect on employees and whether CEO Zuckerberg is in over his hoodie. Slate even featured a ridiculous article by a University of Washington professor advocating the nationalization of the company because it "has become a public good and an [...]
The GSCI Commodity Index ((GSG)) consists primarily of Energy (71%), but also contains Agriculture (14%), Industrial Metals (7%), Livestock (4%), and Precious Metals (4%). The Dow Jones-AIG Energy Total Return Index ((JJE)) consists of Natural Gas, Crude Oil, Heating Oil, and Unleaded Gas. The DJ-AIG Grains Total Return Index ((JJG)) consists of Corn, Wheat, and Soybeans. The DJ- AIG Industrial [...]
Mark Thoma comes unglued about Paul Ryan's economic policy views: Romney and Ryan don't approve of fiscal policy stimulus (unless it's tax cuts for the wealthy), and Ryan would take away the ability of the Fed to respond to unemployment as well. Basically, they are telling us that if a recession hits and they have their way, nothing will be [...]
Germany is the key to the euro. The homogenized currency provided them with a labor cost advantage that has been the engine behind the robust export economy (a la China, Japan before 1986, etc). In fact, the original sin of the euro (apart from the very notion of unelected supranational authority) was mispricing the D-mark into the euro schematic. That [...]
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