Not much happened yesterday. The Dow fell 47 points. The newspapers attributed the reversal to surprisingly low consumer confidence numbers. Apparently, consumers aren’t so sure this crisis is over. As we reported yesterday, they’re saving money… maybe even at an 8% rate.
If there’s anyone worth listening to in Washington these days, it’s Paul Volcker. So why is the great man nowhere to be found? When it comes to the ups and downs of the economy, there is only one man who can claim to have seen it all – Paul Volcker. At six-foot-seven, Volcker towers over all other policy makers in both the literal and figurative sense.
Deflation and the price of Gold. Give yourself an extra point for spotting the trick question. It’s already tripping up plenty of would-be answers. Because gold must fall during deflation, since it rose so much during the inflation of the 1970s – right?
In early Monday morning trading in Hong Kong, the gold price did a quick re-test of New York’s Friday afternoon’s low and slowly started working its way higher from there. Gold really began moving to the upside the moment that Comex trading began in New York. The price moved higher in fits and starts until 12:45 Eastern, when the top was in. Since then, it’s been basically trading sideways.
Volcker Appointed to Overhaul Tax Code; Ken Lewis Sees Recession Bottoming; Ford’s Volvo Sales Moving Along; Romania Receives $27 Billion IMF Loan; IBM Transfers Jobs to India; Durable Goods Orders Rise; Brazil’s Stock Market Surges to Six Week High; Bank of America to Repay TARP Funds
I was captivated by the Wall Street Journal headline “Bearish Big Investors Catch Gold Bug” by Gregory Zuckerman, because I don’t ever expect to see anything favorable about gold in the WSJ since it is concerned primarily with providing information and news about stocks and bonds so that you will be motivated to constantly buy and sell stocks and bonds.
Conventional wisdom says the Dow jumped nearly 3% Friday on the following perverse logic: Awful unemployment numbers would spur Congress to speed up passage of the “stimulus” bill, and happy days would soon be here again.
U.S. Treasury Secretary-nominee Timothy Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee yesterday (Wednesday) that drastic measures are needed to combat the U.S. recession and promised to overhaul the beleaguered $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
Data continue negative in the US… China cuts rates… Chinese currency reserves to hit $2 trillion… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!
Unless you’re a turkey, Thanksgiving is usually a happy holiday. But Bill Bonner says the crumbling economy leaves all of us fearing the axe this year. The global credit crisis has taken us into unchartered territory. And government bailouts will only draw out the inevitable correction.
