Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Technically Precious with Merv, May 21, 2010
Apprenticed Investor: The Zen of Trading
Well, it's time to shift gears, and since trading is an active enterprise, I'll discuss some things you should do. I plan to expand on these ideas significantly in future episodes.
Taken together, the following 10 rules will not only help you with the philosophical grounding necessary for thoughtful -- and successful -- investing, they will help you avoid some of the more common mistakes made by investors and traders early in their careers.
This is the "Zen of Trading;" It is more than an overview -- it's an investment philosophy that can help you develop an investing framework of your own.(more)
Whitworth Says VIX Shows Equities ‘Not Out of Woods’
The options-market gauge known as the VIX jumped 28 percent to 40.10 last week, extending its increase since April 12 to 157 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The index shows investors are paying more to protect against stock declines as governments seek to reduce deficits in Greece, Portugal and Spain. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is down 9.5 percent for May, poised for the biggest decline in 15 months.
“Volatility sent a strong message that we’re not out of the woods globally,” said Whitworth, who helps oversee $6.5 billion at San Diego-based Relational Investors. “I expect the modest recovery that’s under way to have resilience, with the major caveat being a big blowup in Europe. That could spread like an infection.” (more)
JP Morgan: Gold May Face 'Unlimited' Demand
The precious metal could yield a large demand as fears of the euro and the dollar weakening continue, Bridges said in the report, according to the Business Insider.
Gold recently traded at $1195.50.
“A German banker once told us that gold normally trades like a commodity. However, when investors lose confidence in currencies, because the pool of gold is so much smaller than the pool of currencies, demand for gold can effectively become unlimited," Bridges said in the report. (more)
Hedge funds bet big on the falling euro
Hedge funds, including Hayman Advisers and Matrix Group, have told investors that they expect the sovereign debt crisis to worsen despite the €110bn (£79bn) bail-out by the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank.
Anxiety about the financial health of Europe increased yesterday after Spain’s national bank was forced to take control of CajaSur, a savings bank ridden with distressed property debt, after a rescue merger with a rival collapsed. (more)
Fact vs. Fiction on Today’s Economy
There is a lot of “noise” being tossed out by the politicos and their preferred pundits about how the U.S. economy is on the mend. Thus it is important to try and separate fact from fiction about where things really stand.
FICTION: Though sporadic, the U.S. economy will continue to improve.
FACT: The U.S. is headed for a currency crisis.
While having learned to cover their butts by adding some modest modifiers to their generally rosy forecasts, the administration’s shills (Geithner, Bernanke, Summers, et al.) are unified in telling us that the worst is over.
The fact is that the U.S., nay, the world, is headed for fiat currency crash. Let me push forward some evidence in support of that contention. (more)
Burden of Irish debt could yet eclipse that of Greece
OPINION: What will sink us, unfortunately but inevitably, are the huge costs of the September 2008 bank bailout, writes MORGAN KELLY
IT IS no longer a question of whether Ireland will go bust, but when. Unlike Greece, our woes do not stem from government debt, but instead from the government’s open-ended guarantee to cover the losses of the banking system out of its citizens’ wallets.
Even under the most optimistic assumptions about government spending cuts and bank losses, by 2012 Ireland will have a worse ratio of debt to national income than the one that is sinking Greece. (more)