Tag Archives: Credit


Liquidity Expands + Credit Markets Improve = Equity Market Rally

Stock Market Strategy: All signs point to a continuation of the current rally. We will continue to use the direction of liquidity and the behavior of the credit markets as our fundamental guides to equity investing. The primary news story making the rounds today involves the European bank stress test results. I have included the official results and accompanying statement […]

Stock Market Strategy: The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same

I must begin today’s missive with an ebullient congratulations to my good friend Blaine Bell! The wedding in Napa Valley this past weekend was beautiful, the bride radiant and the party atmosphere prodigious. While my computer did make the trip to Napa, it was used for portfolio management only. Any free time this past week was spent in the lovely […]

Precious Metals & Credit Report: A Refresher Course & An Update

Guest Post by Don Coxe (courtesy of Zero Hedge) Don Coxe Dissects Gold, As “The Oldest-Established Store Of Value Moves To Center Stage” …We think that future historians may well report that the moment when gold once again became a store of value was when the dollar began soaring in response to the stench of seared Greece—and gold climbed right […]

Stock Market Strategy: Reduce Shorts Expect Equity Market Rally

The Bear is Full Right Now & May Need Time to Digest The Grizzly we stalked in April and found in May has been devouring pathetic bulls for the last six weeks. The time may have arrived for this satiated animal to take a break. Please refer to the chart of the NYSE Composite below for a clear picture of […]

Understanding Recent Equity Market Mayhem: A Tidal Wave of Liquidity Creation Meets a Cavernous Trench of Debt

Over the last couple of weeks we have witnessed a series of conflicting reports from all over the media complex as to why equity markets are under pressure. Predictably, as soon as the markets recover a bit these same pundits come up with all sorts of reasons to cheer.  Needless to say these hysterical reports, bullish or bearish, are entirely […]

GDP Less Than Expected, Inventory Build Coming to an End, Goldman/Paulson Issue Heating Up

I expressed my belief last week via twitter that this GDP number could be interesting. I suggested the number may be less than expected as the inventory build is coming to an end. Now real intrinsic growth will need to surge in order to satiate the appetite of the GDP prognosticators and I believed that would be a tall order.  Well […]

Credit Markets Warning Signal, Foreign Demand for US Treasury Falls

The following story represents perhaps the largest obstacle facing equity market integrity today.  The previous statement is not hyperbole. The collapse of equity prices in 2008 was presaged by a python-like constriction of credit. If the private sector cannot access credit then business grinds to a halt and as we saw in 2008 economic cataclysm ensues…  Credit markets flash hottest […]

Real Estate Wrap-up and the RIA

Residential Real Estate  There are dozens of reasons why the residential real estate market bubbled and exploded, causing the ensuing credit crisis and economic strife. The popularity of loans requiring no documentation, the easy access to sub-prime loans and the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates low all intertwined to fuel the housing crisis. The housing bubble was also […]

Pulling the Unemployed off the Ropes and Into the Fight

           As markets continue to produce signs of stabilization over the next quarter, it is unlikely that unemployment figures will show much improvement. With figures the highest they have been in more than 25 years, unemployment appears to have neared its peak. Lowering the rate to levels our economy can adequately support will prove to be a daunting task. But, with […]

Taking Control of the Things We Can

Earlier this week, after wrestling with the spate of painful economic news provided by major media, I recognized that I had no immediate control over any of the massive economic concerns. The stock market zigged when I hoped it would zag. Unemployment numbers, often reported differently, moved at different paces in the undesirable direction. Our federal deficit grew, which increased […]