Congress now tells us that it has put off a vote on any Detroit bailout until after Thanksgiving. It warns the Big Three that it had better come up with a viable plan to use the money to get back on track or the check will not be written.
For those of you who could do with some profits in this mess of a market, it’s as good a time as any to cover our short positions on Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE:LVS). I had updated you on this November 19th.
Never has there been a time where the stock market has influenced the commodities markets so much.
Last time I checked, the price of soybeans, cocoa or orange juice had absolutely no relationship to whether Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Disney (NYSE: DIS), or Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) declined in price.
But these days, we’ve got a serious blurring of the lines between global marketplaces. In addition, the prevalence and ease of electronic trading, coupled with well-capitalized hedge funds, means we’re seeing all kinds of different markets having an affect on one another.
Not so long ago, it used to be that money typically flowed from one asset class to another – for example, from stocks to commodities. But that isn’t happening now as most players have either bailed…
Home construction maven Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE:TOL) joined the choir of the footsore and cash-starved today by calling on government to make it all better. According to CEO Robert Toll, the U.S. government needs to “aid” the housing market, primarily by propping up home values.
I assume that bond buyers are all drug addicts who are not aware of what they are doing, morons who are not aware of what they are doing, or grubby slicksters who are buying them on behalf of drug addicts and morons! Hahaha!
The typhoon of commentary that’s blown around the world a step behind the financial tsunami that’s wrecking everything, two little words have been curiously absent: “fraud” and “swindle.” But aren’t they really at the core of what has happened? Wall Street took the whole world “for a ride” and now a handful of Wall Street’s erstwhile princelings have shifted ceremoniously into U.S. Government service to “fix” the problem with a “toolbox” containing a notional two trillion dollars.
This week’s rally is one of the strongest in decades. Justice Litle says there are several indicators pointing to a “tradable bottom” in the market. That means a great chance for short-term profits, even if there are more sell-offs down the road.
Warren Buffett says buy. Jeremy Grantham says it will get worse. Both are celebrated value investors. Who is right? It all depends upon your view of the third derivative of investing. Today we look at valuations in the stock market. This is the second part of a speech I have given in the past few weeks in California and Stockholm. I am updating the numbers, as the target keeps moving.
New home sales rose by 2.7% in September, according to the Commerce Department. Andrew Snyder says this is an important sign of a rebound in the property market. And that means adjusting your portfolio to include real estate investment trusts (REITs) like Post Properties (NYSE:PPS) and American Campus Associates (NYSE:ACC).
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.
