<Click on chart for larger image> Fortune.com – Japan gains on China in dollar race It is not the clearest window, alas: China’s actual holdings of U.S. government bonds are more than twice the official total, Fed chief Ben Bernanke told Congress last week. Even if Japan does unseat China as the country with the… Continue reading Chinese Holdings Of U.S. Assets
MarketWatch.com – Paul B. Farrell: Fed dictator Bernanke needs to be toppled Fed boss Ben Bernanke is the most dangerous human on earth, far more dangerous than Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s 30-year dictator, ever was. Bernanke rules a monetary dictatorship that will trigger the coming third meltdown of the 21st century. Bernanke’s ruling ideology is the… Continue reading Is Bernanke The Most Dangerous Man On Earth?
London Evening Standard – We need to be part of the great Chinese march Yesterday’s estimate for Japan’s GDP growth in the final quarter of 2010, or rather the lack of growth, was not a surprise. More interesting was that it confirmed China’s status as the number two global economy. It wasn’t even close: China’s… Continue reading China’s Growth
CNBC.com – Why Debate Over Inflation Is Much Ado About Nothing Inflation worrywarts point to rising commodity prices, particularly energy and grains, as the greatest immediate threats, drawing comparisons to the first half of 2008. “There’s concern that the Fed is ignoring that,” says Calabria. Though these factors should not be taken lightly, compared to… Continue reading Inflation
The New York Times – Edward L. Glaesar: Beyond Fannie and Freddie, a New Approach But my favorite parts of the report are when it says: “Our plan champions the belief that Americans should have choices in housing that make sense for them and for their families. This means rental options near good schools and… Continue reading The New American Dream
Bloomberg.com – Michael Lewis: All You Need to Know About Why Things Fell Apart Here, in a far-too-brief executive summary, they are: Financial Crisis Cause No. 1: Wall Street’s shifting demographics. Financial Crisis Cause No. 2: The moral collapse of the American working class. Financial Crisis Cause No. 3: The Chinese.
The New York Times – From Prison, Madoff Says Banks ‘Had to Know’ of Fraud In his first interview for publication since his arrest in December 2008, Mr. Madoff — looking noticeably thinner and rumpled in khaki prison garb — maintained that family members knew nothing about his crimes. But during a private two-hour interview… Continue reading Bernie Madoff Speaks From Prison
None Today
Howard L. Simons has been a Strategist with Bianco Research and Arbor Research & Trading since August 2004. He now will be presenting his analyses and commentaries on topics including fixed-income, currencies, global equities, commodities and matters of market structure and organization in a new Website portal, www.simonsresearch.com. Content is divided up into the following… Continue reading Introducing Simons Research
Ask any economist for an interest rates forecast and he or she will most likely tell you interest rates are going higher. Ask them why they think interest rates are going up and they will probably tell you a confluence of events is coming together causing them to look for higher rates. This confluence of… Continue reading Why Are Economists ALWAYS Bearish On Interest Rates?
Zero Hedge (Blog) – NYSE Common Stock Volume Plunges To Sub-2001 Levels When we pointed out our volume chart earlier, which indicated that volume is now a laughable joke, we received one of the traditionally amusing responses, “ZH misses the point on volume because they data mine and only compare it to the volume during… Continue reading Volume
The Financial Times – David Rosenberg: No free lunches in debt-fuelled bear rally There is no doubt that we have an incredible bear market rally on our hands. But after a monstrous 90 per cent rally from the March 2009 lows (over such a short time frame, and the most pronounced bounce since 1955) this… Continue reading Investing During This 90% Bear Market Rally