On my last trip to my lakefront estate at Lake Tahoe, I stopped off at the state capital, Sacramento, to look in on my old friend, Governor Jerry Brown. It is crucial that readers across the country, and indeed, around the world, know what Jerry is thinking. California has always been a ?pathfinder? state, and
Global Market Comments February 8, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (HOW THIS MARKET WILL DIE), (SPY), (SPX), (DOW AVERAGE), (AAPL), (QQQ), (APRIL 12 SAN FRANCISCO STRATEGY LUNCHEON), (THE CRUEL TRUTH ABOUT GOVERNMENT STATISTICS), (TESTIMONIAL) SPDR S&P 500 S&P Large Cap Index Apple Power Shares QQQ
The universal question in the market today was ?Why is it down? when all the news was good? The weekly jobless claims dropped 5,000 to 366,000, near a five-year low, confirming that the jobs recovery is still on track. Activist shareholder, David Einkorn?s, lawsuit against Apple (AAPL) to unfreeze its cash mountain should have boosted
There have been complaints about the quality of government data as long as there have been stock markets. The US is not much better than emerging markets, like China, where numbers are subject to huge, after the fact revisions. A broker friend of mine emailed the conversation below, which has been circulating around the street.
Global Market Comments February 7, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (HOW MUCH TO GO WITH PALLADIUM), (PALL), (HANGING OUT WITH WOZ), (AAPL), (THANK GOODNESS I DON?T LIVE IN SWEDEN), (EWD) ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (PALL) Apple Inc. (APPL) iShares MSCI Sweden Index (EWD)
Palladium has caught absolutely on fire in recent months. The ETF (PALL) for the hedge fund darling has soared by 34% since the September low, and shows no sign of slowing. The CFTC announced that speculative positions in palladium futures leapt 12% last week to an all time high. Also known as the ?poor man?s
Global Market Comments February 6, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT THE IRANIAN RIAL COLLAPSE), (WHEN YOUR OPTIONS ARE EXERCISED)
The Iranian Rial (IRR) has just suffered one of the most cataclysmic crashes in the history of the foreign exchange markets. It is off a mind numbing 75% since the beginning of 2011. One dollar now buys 12,200 Rials. Watch out Zimbabwe! When communications between intelligence agencies suddenly spike, as has recently been the case,
I received a few emails from readers whose option holdings have been exercised against them, and have asked me for advice on how best to proceed. So, here we go. The options traded on US exchanges are American style, meaning that they can be exercised at any time by the owner. This is opposed to
Global Market Comments February 5, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (FEBRUARY IS THE CRUELEST MONTH), (SPX), (SPY), (WHY GOLD IS DEAD), (GLD), (GDX), (TESTIMONIAL), (OXY), (BYDDF)
Actually, it is the second cruelest month. September is the worst, as indicated by the table below, put together by my friends at Stockcarts.com. I think you have to get some sort of pullback between now and March 15, like of the 2%-4% range. It?s not that we are without fundamental reasons to do so.
It certainly has been a year of gnashing teeth and tearing hair for inveterate gold bugs (GLD). They got everything they wanted on the fundamental side. Runaway printing presses from the Federal Reserve, profligate spending from the US government, and a series of unending crises threatening our oil supplies in the Middle East. Yet, the
Global Market Comments February 4, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (GOLDILOCKS DELIVERS A NONFARM PAYROLL), (SPY), (SPX), (DOW), (FEBRUARY 6 GLOBAL STRATEGY WEBINAR), (LOOK AT THAT YEN!), (FXY), (YCS)
Does it get any better than this? First, the hometown San Francisco Giants win the World Series in a four game sweep. Then the San Francisco 49er?s play in the Super Bowl. Finally, I win the World Series/Super Bowl of investing by capturing an absolutely pyrotechnic 21% year to date performance, boosting me once again
All of those years spent living in rabbit hutch sized apartments, getting hand packed by white gloved railway men into rush hour train cars, and learning an impossible language, are finally paying off. I have to tell you, I really have to think hard to recall a plunge in a major currency that has been
The Trade Alert Service of the Mad Hedge Fund Trader posted a 16.75% profit in January, an all time monthly high. The 26-month total return has punched through to 71.80%, compared to a miserable 10% return for the Dow average. That raises the averaged annualized return to 33.13%, elevating to the top of the hedge
?I have to admit that it was with some trepidation that I joined Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, for lunch this week in San Francisco. I have friends in the New York federal prosecutors office who warned me that she was tough as nails and a complete bitch, first as a prosecutor herself, and later
Global Market Comments January 31, 2013 Fiat Lux Featured Trade: (WHERE?S THE CRASH?) (TAKING FORD OUT FOR A SPIN), (F), (CHENIERE ENERGY GETS THE GREEN LIGHT), (LNG), (UNG), (THE TECHNOLOGY NIGHTMARE COMING TO YOUR CITY)
That was the questions traders were scratching their heads and asking this morning in the wake of this morning?s shocking Q4, 2012 GDP figure. While most analysis were expecting the government to report a more robust 1%-2% number we got negative -0.1%, the worst since 2009. With growth flipping from a positive 3.1% figure in
I have been trying to buy this stock for a month. Not because I like their pedestrian cars (except the new, muscular, retro Mustang), but because it is one of the great turnaround stories in business history. Today?s earnings announcement gives us that window. It delivered over $3 billion in profits during Q4, 2012. But