Consumers are still pushing the panic button on the amount of debt they’re willing to take on, a sure sign that the economy has yet to recover. At an annual rate of 8.5%, it is now evident that debt is the new pandemic to be shed, however it creates some huge microeconomic consequences. Read more…
This new fund from Wall Street is sure to shake up the regulators and traders alike. Ahead of its launch, one palladium producer rose nearly 16% due to the belief that these new funds will create huge amounts of artificial demand. Read more…
Last year I wrote about an interesting correlation between the strength of movie attendance and the economy. In 2008, movie attendance was slumping-off more than 7% from 2007. However, as 2009 comes to a close, movie attendance indicate that we as a collective are feeling much better about the economic future. Read more…
There isn’t single commodity that could touch the volatility of oil through 2009. Going into the year oil was coming off summer highs of $147 a barrel and had dipped as low as $37 as the global recession reached its peak. With 2010 on the horizion, it looks like we could have a repeat of 2008. Read more…
Quantitative easing is such a beautiful word for such an ugly subject: inflation. With record amounts of Treasuries up for maturity in 2010 and huge amounts of new issuance, the Fed will be forced to again ease the fixed income markets. Read more…
With the Great Recession still in effect and consumers still cutting back, 2010 could be the year of death for credit card profit margins. A battered consumer, a fear of debt and new legislation regarding credit card interest rates could create a death spiral for plastic. Read more…
Exchange-traded funds are loved by investors for their tax advantages, especially when it comes to capital gains. Because most funds are indexes that track the returns of a subset of stocks/bonds/commodities and rarely buy or sell holdings, capital gains are almost never incurred on the operating end. Usually, a trader will only have to pay taxes when a capital gain is generated on his/her side after the position is sold. Unfortunately, this isn’t exactly true for bond funds, which had to move funds around in a very volatile 2009. Read more…
Small provisions in humungous bills often realign whole industries. One case, a new tax on indoor tanning products, will increase the price consumers pay for tanning services by 10% to pay for a new healthcare system. Read more…
Despite criticism from both the left and the right of the political spectrum, Bernanke was reappointed by the Senate as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The vote, which was closer than most, came in at 16-7. Read more…
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