The week is coming to an end, and while most eyes are focused on the spectacular (or ridiculous, depending on your preferences) hats that were worn at the royal wedding, our eyes are still market bound. Precious metals continue to surge, speculators continue to get blamed for all that ails, and the month of April […]
Category: Off Topic
29
Apr
2011
28
Apr
2011
Japan’s Lingering Impact… Or Not?
Seems like yesterday we were all worrying about nuclear fallout in Tokyo, and global markets were plummeting like the end of the risk on rally from the March 2009 lows was finally over. But as more and more markets keep making fresh 2011 highs, the Fukushima disaster seems further and further in the mirror… at […]
28
Apr
2011
ETFs v. Cash and Futures YTD… With a Special Silver Guest Appearance
As we once again visit the performance of commodity ETFs versus the cash and future markets, the results are not surprising. Save corn, ETFs continue to underperform futures, leading us to echo our advice of buying 12 month futures and rolling them annually instead of trying to get long commodity exposure via ETFs. This is […]
27
Apr
2011
Speculator- a Dirty Word?
With President Obama himself recently calling out “oil speculators” as the root cause of high gas prices, we’re back to sighing and shaking our head. We’ve mentioned it in our recent post about blaming speculators for inflation fears, but right now, the speculators are a convenient scapegoat for many, and at the risk of sounding […]
20
Apr
2011
Golden Opportunities- should you just invest in Peyton Manning?
With all the back and forth about gold prices and what they mean, sometimes it’s good to keep a little context. Here’s a great infographic from Newsweek that does just that:
15
Apr
2011
Weekend Reads
It’s tax time. We recently published a newsletter explaining how managed futures function when you go to file your taxes, but as you sift through the rest of your financials, here’s some tax-related reading material that will leave you feeling alternately abused and amused… Where your taxes that paid for the bailout went… (Rolling Stone) Top […]
15
Apr
2011
FinViz… Hogs aren’t really up 8% today…
FinViz.com – we love your site, but hope you can get Lean Hogs correct. You are showing them up 8.4% today? That’s odd… the June contract is DOWN -1.73% today. Looks like you are showing the difference between the just expired April contract and the June contract… That is all well and fine, but then […]
13
Apr
2011
Is it time to admit the ethanol plan has failed?
Ethanol subsidies have been around since 1979- far before the concept of “green fuel” became popular in American society. In the wake of the 1970’s oil shocks, and even today, the concept was appealing- if we could find a way to decrease our reliance of foreign oil, our carbon footprint and limit pain at the […]
08
Apr
2011
Weekend Reads
The first Friday of the month is here. The big story today is the potential shutdown of the government, with less than 9 hours remaining for Congress to find some kind of middle ground on an emergency bill to keep things afloat. While we watch the chaos unfold, here’s some reading to enjoy: What’s intrinsic […]
06
Apr
2011
Dear Dave Ramsey…
Dave Ramsey is well known for giving out financial advice that involves minimizing risk in all ways, shapes and forms- in particular as it relates to consumer credit. Unfortunately, this time around, it appears as though he got in over his head while responding to a reader’s query: Dear Dave, My broker has recommended a […]
