The U.S. government is starting to see profits from the $750 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), started last year to thwart the financial crisis.
The U.S. stock market has enjoyed a strong rally since the early spring, but while the economy has shown improvement, it still faces major headwinds. So it may be best to hedge against the U.S. dollar, which is likely to experience a significant decline over the next few months.
As shares of Berhshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.A, BRK.B) plunged over the past year, it became fashionable to ask whether or not Warren Buffett had lost his touch.
It has been a strong two weeks for the equities market. Thanks to some positive news from the nation’s banking sector, the average investor is wealthier this week than he was last week. Is it time to lock in the gains?
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE:BRK.A) is finally starting to offload its 20% stake in ratings agency Moody’s Corporation (NYSE.MCO).
Today we examine a couple of recent stories from Fantasyland – otherwise known as Wall Street. Seven of America’s largest banks repaid their TARP borrowings to the US Treasury yesterday, in the process providing one more occasion for hopeful investors to proclaim the end of the credit crisis.
The high water mark for gold occurred at 12:00 noon in Hong Kong on Monday. From there, gold shed about $7 by the time London had been trading for an hour. Gold gained almost all of that back in the rest of London trading…and up until precisely 9:00 a.m. in New York. Then a seller showed up…with another sharp sell-off the moment that London closed. From there, gold did nothing…except briefly tick down to its low of the day…$938.40. For a Monday, volume was very light…and [according to the usual N.Y. commentator] “saw estimated volume of only 84,287 lots which, if it is not radically revised, suggests Monday was the quietest Comex day in quite some time.” The US$ was up…
If history is our guide, then the rally we’ve seen in U.S. stocks in recent weeks is more than just a periodic run-up in share prices – it’s the initial stage of a prolonged bull market.
The results of the government’s bank stress tests were released yesterday (Thursday), and the U.S. Federal Reserve has directed 10 banks to raise an aggregate $70 billion-plus in capital.
Well, the gold chart looked pretty bleak very early Friday morning…with gold touching the $880 level in London as I turned my computer off from writing Friday’s rant. I must admit that I turned the computer back on about lunch time yesterday with some fear and trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised that the price I’d seen last night [just before the London a.m. fix] was the low tick of the day. From there it worked its way a few dollars higher…right into Comex floor trading in New York.