All Posts Tagged With: "Daily Reckoning"
Weak Data Will Send Dollar To New Depths
The Daily Reckoning’s currency expert Chuck Butler says the dollar is being taken to the woodshed. The greenback is losing ground against all major currencies as the credit crisis continues to wreak havoc in the U.S economy. Chuck says disappointing inflation or retail sales data this week will send the dollar to new depths…
Who’s Really Behind Skyrocketing Oil and Commodities Prices?
American consumers are feeling the pain both at the pump and in the grocery store. Meanwhile with real full-time unemployment rates climbing towards 10%, penny-pinching consumers are wondering just who is to blame.
Investing in Africa: Opportunities Aplenty
With commodity prices through the roof, governments and businesses see investing in resource-rich Africa as an increasingly attractive proposition.
Chris Mayer explains in The Daily Reckoning why investing in Africa holds such potential for profit:
Africa increasingly is right in the middle of the global quest for natural resources. It has the highest ratio of light and sweet crude in the world – the best-quality stuff you can find. And most of its oil – some 83% – comes from large fields that produce at least 100 million barrels per day.
Heads Roll at Lehman Brothers
This week saw Lehman Brothers replace two of its top executives: CFO Erin Callan and COO Joseph Gregor. The two will remain at the bank in lesser roles.
“As recently as a month ago,” says Justice Litle in Taipan Daily, “Erin Callan was on top of the world.”
The WSJ did a glowing piece on her rise through the ranks. Condé Nast’s Portfolio magazine dubbed her the most powerful woman on Wall Street.
US Inflation Rate Rises 0.6% in May
The US inflation rate rose by 0.6% in May — the highest monthly increase since last November.
The core inflation rate, however, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, only rose 0.2%, easing fears that rising commodity prices would feed into more widespread inflation
But can the government’s inflation data be trusted? John Brown in The Daily Reckoning doesn’t think so…
Lehman Brothers Expected to Pull Through
Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest US investment bank, is at the centre of a storm of bad news stories.
Shares in the Wall Street powerhouse tumbled 31% last month on the NYSE on expections of heavy Q2 losses and the likelihood that the bank will have to raise cash to cover subprime-related writedowns. However, unlike rival Bear Stearns, the word on the Street is that Lehman will survive.
“On Wall Street, after Bear Stearns fainted, the other financial firms took smelling salts,” says Bill Bonner in The Daily Reckoning.
Housing Crisis Hits Manhattan
Home prices in Manhattan have remained largely immune from the housing crisis gripping the US… until now.
According to Reuters, the New York real-estate market is showing a significant reduction in new deals as Wall Street sheds staff to reduce costs.
“For the most part, the subprime crisis is past its inflection point,” says Eric Roseman in the Offshore A-Letter. “What matters now is how and when other credit indicators normalize.”
After Subprime, US Faces Crisis in Construction
They’ve already taken a hit on subprime, now major US banks, including troubled Wachovia, could be facing a similar crunch in the construction-lending market.
Part of Wachovia’s problem — apart from its residential-mortgage woes — is the $23.9 billion in outstanding debt it holds in relation to commercial-property projects at the end of the first quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“Teaser rates of just 1% interest, left almost one-in-ten subprime borrowers unable to meet their monthly mortgage bills,” says Adrian Ash in The Daily Reckoning UK.
Biofuels: Our Savior After All?
Could biofuels be our savior after all? This from Bloomberg:
Biofuels can boost incomes and yields for farmers, revitalizing impoverished rural areas when they are introduced in countries with secure land ownership, the International Institute for Environment and Development said.
By raising the price of crops such as corn and palm oil, biofuels can reduce poverty in countries with a high dependency on agriculture, the London-based researcher said in a report with the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Oil Companies Profit from Sulfuric-Acid Market Boom
The sulfuric-acid market is booming and oil companies are reaping the rewards.
According to the London Times, the price of sulfur has risen from $50 to $500 a ton in under a year. More from this report:
“Shell is one of the most-efficient producers of sulphur,” Barry Clarke, a sulphur market analyst for Pentasul, said.
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