Global Market Comments May 29, 2009 Featured Trades: (GM), ($BDI), (DRYS) Special Shipping Issue 1)The imminent demise of General Motors (GM) will be a nail in the coffin for the commercial real estate market, which I believe will be the financial crisis of 2009. Some 2,000 dealers are being axed, dumping hundreds of millions of [...]

Global Market Comments May 28, 2009 Featured Trades: ($WTIC), ($NATGAS) 1) That great sucking sound you hear is the air going out of the housing recovery- punctured by the collapse of the bond market and the spike in interest rates. Interest rates on 30 year fixed rate mortgages gapped up from 5.03% to 5.29% in [...]

Global Market Comments May 27, 2009 Featured Trades: ($KOSPI), (CAL), (GM), (TBT) 1) With North Korea testing low grade nukes and short range missiles (think WWII German V2's), and a former prime minister jumping off a cliff to commit suicide, you wouldn't think this is the best time to contemplate an investment in South Korea. [...]

Global Market Comments May 26, 2009 Featured Trades: (TBT), (SPX) 1) Anyone who thinks that we have hit bottom in real estate should start smoking something else. The S&P Case-Shiller National Home Price Index fell 19.1% in Q1, the sharpest drop in history. Charlotte, NC did best, rising 0.3% while Detroit, where prices have fallen [...]

Global Market Comments May 22, 2009 Featured Trades: (GOLD), (ABX), ($XEU), (YEN), (NZD), (TO), (POT), (MON), (AFRICA), (W), (DBC) 1) I can't think of a better reason to keep a core long term position in gold than the prospect of the US losing its triple 'A' rating. The chatter about this yesterday took the barbaric [...]

Global Market Comments May 21, 2009 Featured Trades: (EEM), (IFN), (FXI) 1)    Investors which took my New Year advice to load up on emerging markets are now facing the vexing problem of what to do with all of their new found wealth. The emerging market ETF has soared by 57% to $33, and two of [...]

Global Market Comments May 20, 2009 Featured Trades: (VIX), (JAPAN) 1) California voters resoundingly rejected all five out of six budgetary measures by an overwhelming two to one margin, setting the stage for a new financial crisis. Trashed at the polls were plans to create a rainy day fund, improve education, borrow from the state [...]

Global Market Comments May 19, 2009 Featured Trades: (PBR), (TM), (ABX) 1) Obama announced the adoption of California's stringent CAFE standards nationally, which will force car makers to improve gas mileage to 39 mpg for cars and 30 mpg for trucks in six years. The move is expected to save 1.8 million barrels/day of crude [...]

Global Market Comments May 18, 2009 Special Las Vegas Money Show Issue Featured Trades: (PBR), (CX), (DUK), (GOLD), (SILVER), ($BSE) 1)    Last week, I dropped in on the rock festival of investment conferences, the Las Vegas Money Show, at the posh and cavernous Mandalay Bay Hotel. A mild 95 degrees outside, I mingled with the [...]

Global Market Comments May 15, 2009 Featured Trades: (NG), (NATGAS), (WTIC) “Fiat Lux”   1) Reformed oil man, repenting sinner, and borne again environmentalist T. Boone Pickens says that ‘when we turn the US green, it will have the best economy ever.’ I met the spry, homespun billionaire at San Francisco’s Mark Hopkins on a [...]

Global Market Comments May 14, 2009 Featrured Trades (GM) 1) I’ll tell you what GM’s problem is. My dad was a lifetime GM customer, religiously  buying a new Oldsmobile every five years. Once he even flew to Detroit for a factory tour and drove his new prize home. Thirty years ago I told him he [...]

Global Market Comments May 13, 2009 Featured Trades: (GE), (SPX), (BRAZIL) 1) Ahem. Excuse me. Did someone out there say sell in May and go away?. Do I sense that risk is coming back into the market? Is it time for a reality check? Helloooo! Crude at $60? Take a look at your charts and [...]

Global Market Comments May 12, 2009 SPECIAL FINOVATE STARTUP 2009 CONFERENCE ISSUE Featured Trades: (GE), (GM), (LSE-AJG) 1) Is your bank giving you the cold shoulder on your last loan application, not retuning your phone calls, or asking for interminable documentation? Just bypass them. Try an online peer to peer bank, the Internet's answer to [...]

Global Market Comments May 11, 2009 Featured Trades: (DVN), (CHK), (NATGAS), (GOLD), (SILVER) Special Natural Gas Issue 1) I know what keeps Obama awake at night. Let's say we spend our $2 trillion and get a couple of quarters of weak 2% type growth. Then once the effects of the stimulus wear off, we slip [...]

Global Market Comments May 8, 2009 Featured Trades: (NS), $USB), (TBT) 1) The May nonfarm payroll came in at minus 539,000, better that the consensus of minus 650,000, taking the unemployment up to 8.9%. The improvement was caused by temporary hiring of government workers for the 2010 census. A peak above 10% now looks like [...]