Divorced From Reality
A divorced from reality Chicago Fed bank President Charles Evans helped spur a rally in gold today with calls for aggressive monetary stimulus. Evans is in favor of QE3 and would have voted for it at the Fed’s last policy meeting. Like Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Mr. Evans believes that QE2 was successful.... Read the full story
What We’re Reading 8-26-11
The critical facts that no one mentioned in the debt debate Fortune Measuring Inflation: The Core Is Rotten Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis How Not to Grow an Economy The Wall Street Journal Mortgage delinquencies rise Bankrate.com Coping with stock market drops VanguardBlog.com Just How Bad Is Bad? Foreign... Read the full story
The Trouble with Annuities
You may have learned about the trouble with annuities. In its simplest form, an annuity is an arrangement in which you give an insurance company a lump sum of money and in exchange you receive payments over time. For a fee, that is. At the end of the day, what you’re really doing is giving up control... Read the full story
Consumers Forecasting Recession
Consumers are now forecasting a recession. The Thomson Reuters / University of Michigan final index of consumer sentiment was released today. The index fell to levels not seen since the height of the financial crisis. The expectations component of the survey plummeted to a three decade low. In the almost... Read the full story
Counting on QE3
Is this becoming a tradition? I am of course talking about Wall Street’s calls for the Federal Reserve to fire up the free money truck. It was this time last year at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole symposium that Chairman Bernanke first signaled QE2 was on the way. Now as then, Wall Street is demanding... Read the full story
Inflation Threatens Long Bond Yield
The Labor Department released July numbers for consumer, producer, and import price inflation this week. The results were troubling. Consumer prices increased 3.6% compared to last year, producer prices increased by 7.6%, and import prices increased by a whopping 14%. Even the Federal Reserve’s preferred... Read the full story
The Biggest Annuity Mistake
I don’t like annuities. I know there are ways they can make sense in some portfolios, but for the majority of investors they’re a bad move for several reasons. First, they’re pushed on unsophisticated investors by well-trained salesmen. Second, the fees, especially surrender fees, can be devastating... Read the full story
A Historic Week
Even with the relatively calm day in the markets on Friday, this past week has been one of the most volatile on record. Only during the 2008 financial crisis, the 1987 stock market crash, and the Great Depression have stock prices been as volatile as they were this past week. Read More →
What we’re Reading 8-12-11
Mexico Sells $1 Billion of 100-Year Bonds to Tap Into Drop in U.S. Yields Bloomberg Mistakes in Scientific Studies Surge The Wall Street Journal Business and Health-Care Reform Unfortunate Side-Effects The Economist Warren Buffett Is Wrong On Taxes The Wall Street Journal In Plain Language: Stop the... Read the full story
Worst 5 Bear Markets
Developed world equity markets have been hammered in recent weeks. In U.S. dollar terms, many have entered bear market territory—defined as a peak-to-trough decline of at least 20%. We have compiled a slideshow of the 5 MSCI developed world stock market indices with the biggest bear market losses.... Read the full story
