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 [...]

Global Market Comments May 7, 2009 Featured Trades: (SILVER), (GOLD), (TIPS) 1) If you don’t rush out and buy silver right now at $13.70 an ounce, I’m going to pick you up and shake you by the lapels of your coat until your false teeth pop out and fall clattering to the ground. Take a [...]

Global Market Comments May 6, 2009 Featured Trades: (BAC), (WFC), (1688.HK) 1) Volatility alert! Volatility alert! The ADP employment report showed 491,000 in job losses for April. Whoopee! We are only losing 16,000 jobs a day instead of 20,000! But the consensus for the Friday's nonfarm payroll is -650,000. The divergence is sure to boost [...]

Global Market Comments May 5, 2009 Featured Trades: (BIDU), (GOOG), (NTES), (SINA), (SOHU), (EEM), (TBT) 1) Has anyone noticed how boring things have gotten, or is it just me? After enduring 1,000 point daily ranges in the Dow, a volatility index at 88%, and blue chips stocks going to zero, maybe my nerve endings are [...]

Global Market Comments May 4, 2009 Featured Trades: (RCC), (CUK), (SFD), (CHL), (EWT), ($XJY) 1) San Francisco Bay looks like Normandy on D-Day today, invaded by a flotilla of cruise ships diverted by the swine flu from Mexican destinations. Two ships from Carnival (CUK) and one from Royal Caribbean (RCC) are docked at piers normally [...]

Global Market Comments May 1, 2009 Featured Trades: (COAL), (TBT), (SPX), (CRUDE), ($USB), (BAC) 1) OK guys, it's May. Go Away. I mean vamoose, andele, raus, ike nasai! You've just had the best two month run in 30 years. It's time to sit down and smell the roses. Go climb that Alpine peak you've always [...]

The Mad Hedge Fund Trader Global Market Comments April 30, 2009 Featured Trades: (TBT), (EUROYEN) 1) The whir of the printing presses again spooked the bond market, taking ten year Treasury bond yields up to 3.14%, and the 30 year to 4.10%, a one year high. This is going to be a recurring event over [...]