From the category archives:

US debt

Apparently the late-Friday surge in stock markets might have been due to the possibility that “the Ben Bernanke” will intimate the possibility of higher levels of QE2 than initially indicated.  More than $600 billion in Treasury purchases by June 2011, in other words.
Reuters caught sight of a report on the CBS website indicating that Bernanke [...]

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And none of them are likely to happen in any conceivable near-term time frame.
Gold is sitting pretty now above $1400/oz following the World Bank’s suggestion of a return to the gold standard – and it’s inevitably already drawing out commentators from the woodwork who want to talk about how overvalued gold is and the fact [...]

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Two of the largest days for global stock markets are coming up: November 2nd and 3rd.  By doing some planning in advance you can position yourself to take advantage of it.  Here’s what you should know for trading hours on Monday, November 1.
Three trading tips for the November elections and the announcement of quantitative easing [...]

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Bank of America has decided it will halt all foreclosures in all 50 states going forward.  This means, apparently, millions of folks will be living in homes without paying for it – which means at least temporary losses for banks.  (Don’t get me wrong, it is a good thing for families who can find no [...]

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By all counts it seems clear that the odds of the U.S. falling into a double-dip recession have increased.  If you just look at the charts of the DJIA alone, you can see the breakdown in prices, but there are other factors, too.
1. State Anti-Stimulus Programs Larger than Federal Stimulus Programs.  I think this was [...]

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On April 27, 2010, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Greece’s credit rating to junk status – meaning that it is unlikely Greece can pay back its creditors, which means that it is not worth it for the hypothetical investor to invest in Greece.
The same day, the USD spiked and the Euro and other currencies fell a [...]

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Thus spake the Congressional Budget Office on the long-term future of American fiscal integrity (or rather, the coming lack of it).  As Niall Ferguson reported in his piece for the Financial Times back in February,

“The long-run projections of the Congressional Budget Office suggest that the US will never again run a balanced budget. That’s right, [...]

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