?If you add up all the stimulus that expires at the end of the year, like the Bush tax cuts, the jobs bill, and so on, it adds up to 4% of GDP. It?s a major factor that no one is focusing on?.yet,? said Larry Kantor, chief strategist of Barclays Capital.
The market hung on tenterhooks all last week, waiting for the Chinese Q1 GDP figure. As recently as Thursday, rumors swept the market that the number could be as high as 9%, well above the consensus figure of 8.4%, taking the Dow up a red hot 181 points. When the flash hit in the afternoon
I received another one of those scratchy, barely audible cell phone calls from my buddy at the Barnet Shale in Texas this morning. Cheniere Energy (LNG) is has obtained three of the four permits it needs to begin construction of a gas liquifaction plant in Louisiana. This will enable the company to export natural gas
From my mountain top aerie in the Oakland Hills I had a front row seat to the spectacular lightning storm that hit San Francisco last week. I saw both towers of the Golden Gate Bridge get hit simultaneously. I just thought I would pass on some of the more amazing pictures. It is all part
?The VIX right here is unsustainably low. I think China has more of a downside surprise. Analyst expectations for earnings are overly aggressive. There are just a few too many things that can go wrong out there,? said Vadim Zlotnikov, chief market strategist at Alliance Bernstein.
A few years ago, I went to a charity fund raiser at San Francisco?s priciest jewelry store, Shreve & Co., where the well-heeled men bid for dinner with the local high society beauties, dripping in diamonds and Channel No. 5. Well fueled with champagne, I jumped into a spirited bidding war for one of the
In case you missed it, the second hand animal market has crashed. Forced to slash budgets by cash starved municipalities, the nation?s public zoos have been paring back their collections of living exhibits. The Washington Zoo is trying to offload a 7,000 pound hippopotamus; while the San Francisco Zoo is short some tigers after one
I couldn?t for the life of me figure out why New York?s former governor and federal prosecutor, Elliot Spitzer, wanted to invite me to dinner. He wasn?t flogging a book or promoting a movie, and he certainly wasn?t running for office again. But I went anyway, thinking perhaps the notorious ?Client No.9? might let me
?People that have complete disdain for government intervention in the economy and markets of the West have complete faith in nine guys in a room being able to figure out the very complex and rapidly growing Chinese economy,? said hedge fund manager Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates, about foreign investors? unlimited faith in the Middle
Note to self. Don't do your midnight pee next to the bear box. They're called that for a reason. And I'm sorry that my shouting at the hungry, six foot tall black bear standing in front of me, no doubt attracted by my Cheetos, hot dogs, and marshmallows, woke up the campers at the 57