Today’s AM fix was USD 1,385.25, EUR 1,071.43 and GBP 917. (Read more…)75 per ounce. Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,378.75, EUR 1,070.21 and GBP 908.39 per ounce. Gold fell $6.50 or 0.47% yesterday to $1,377.80/oz and silver finished down 0.56%. Click here to download our free guide to gold. The fundamentals of the [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 09:50
The Top 3 Things I Learned at the Bitcoin Conference
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 09:42
MOAR Orderly… oops… Bernanke: “Fed could reduce bond purchases in the next few meetings if data supports it” and perhaps most disturbing is that reality is finally seeping into the corner offices of the Marriner Eccles building when Bernanke says that concerns about “frothiness” and “bubbles” has increased? Was it the sub-5% yield in high [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 08:56
Update: Bubbles Bernanke slams any hopes for tapering goodbye, as long predicted: PREMATURE TIGHTENING RISKS SLOWING OR ENDING RECOVERY Bernanke’s quarterly hearing with the Joint Economic Committee this morning will be today’s must-see event (with FOMC minutes a close second). It seems the equity market has no fears but many in the high-yield market are [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 08:47
Or maybe this is a trick question, and the answer for the “New Normal”, when all central banks are coordinating on reflating the biggest asset bubble of all time, is “all of them”… And some thoughts on the chart above from Obermeyer Asset Management: The above chart shows that once every ten years or so, [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 08:34
As we noted yesterday, the IRS’ head of exempt organizations who started the whole IRS targeting scandal, is testifying this morning and is expected to plead the Fifth. One wonders why, if as the IRS claims, there was no illegal or illicit activity involved. Watch her plead “da Fif” live here… (Read more…) Click [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 08:30
We were sorry to learn of the untimely death of Aleksei Balabanov, director of Cargo 200, one of Disinformation’s rare forays into foreign film distribution. His obituary from the New York Times in relevant part: …In 16 films, Mr. Balabanov offered a world of hit men, shamelessly corrupt officials and corpses upon corpses in a [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 08:03
Global risk appetite surged to 4.53 (5 being ‘euphoria’), its highest level since the euphoria event of 2006, and up from 1.76 one month ago according to Credit Suisse. Other risk appetite indices, as well as market anecdotes, confirm the “almost euphoric” environment. US credit risk appetite has charged higher and is now at 3. [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 08:01
[Action Alert] • A unique and pristine forest is being threatened in Indonesia. A local governor wants to give the go-ahead to palm oil and mining companies to move in on the land—a massive ecosystem with endangered species. Orangutans, elephants, and tigers are all threated by this deforestation. read more (Read more…)
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 08:00
Be careful what you search? Via Forbes one week ago: In the ruling Friday, the DC Circuit court decided that the National Security Agency doesn’t need to confirm or deny its relationship with Google in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, ruling that a FOIA [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:55
Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla died May 17 at the age of 87 as the result of injuries suffered from a fall in a prison shower. He was remembered as the head of a savage military dictatorship that between 1976 and…
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:53
A new slow-motion method of controlling the synthesis of polymers, which takes inspiration from both trees and Celtic knots, opens up new possibilities in areas including medical devices, drug delivery, elastics and adhesives.
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:53
Tropical plants flower at supra-annual irregular intervals. In addition, mass flowering is typical for the tropical forests in Borneo and elsewhere, where hundreds of different plant timber species from the Dipterocarpaceae family flower synchronously. This phenomenon is all the more puzzling because both temperature and day length are relatively constant all year round due to [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:52
A full 90 percent of all the data in the world has been generated over the last two years. Internet-based companies are awash with data that can be grouped and utilized. Is this a good thing?
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:49
Israeli and Syrian forces exchanged fire across the cease-fire line in the Golan Heights yesterday, amid rising US and Israeli threats of intervention in the US-led sectarian proxy war in Syria, which is rapidly spreading throughout the region. Fighting in…
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:48
A week ago it was the better than expected weather’s fault for the big Wal-Mart miss. Today, it is the turn of that other retail bellwether, Target, to blame sunny days. From the release: “Target’s first quarter earnings were below expectations as a result of softer-than-expected sales, particularly in apparel and other seasonal and weather-sensitive [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:37
Syria is Washington’s war. Israel’s very much involved. It abhors peace and stability. Its history reflects belligerence. It’s a direct threat. (Read more…) It borders Syria. Both countries are longstanding imperial partners. The Israeli Lobby plays a key role. Orwell once said…
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:12
President Obama said during his recent comments regarding the record breaking tornado in Oklahoma that Federal funds had run out before planned-for-shelters could be built. This is not surprising because the US government is running a multi-trillion dollar deficit and there is virtually no growth in the economy. The stock, bond and housing markets are [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 07:10
Yes, yes, everyone knows hedge funds aren’t benchmarked to the S&P – after all they “hedge” for the broader market downside. Here is the problem: having underperformed the S&P for five years in a row, many LPs are starting to get tired of not only underperforming stocks but paying out 2 and 20 on all [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 06:47
By EconMatters Gold’s been on a wild ride. After reaching a peak of $1,920 an ounce in September 2011, gold has tumbled 28% to the current ~$1,380 level forcing John Paulson to take a 47% loss in his gold fund during the first four months of this year, according to Bloomberg. (Read more…) Unlike Paulson [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 06:39
We would have been perfectly happy to report this as Humpday Humor, but unfortunately, and only in America, can a disgraced former Congressman, the very appropriately named Anothony Weiner, announce his candidacy for NYC Mayor via YouTube in all too serious news. What is perhaps most disturbing is that, “a Quinnipiac University poll also released [...]
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 05:56
Today is one on those rare days in which everyone stops pretending fundamentals matter, and admits every market uptick is purely a function of what side of the bed Bernanke wakes up on, how loudly Kuroda sneezes, or how much coffee Mark Carney has had before lunch, but more importantly: that all “risk” is in [...]
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