Bernanke On 60 Minutes: "We're NOT Printing Money"

A history of gold

3600 BC - First smelting of gold

Egyptian goldsmiths carry out the first melting or fusing of ores in order to separate the metals inside. They use blowpipes made from fire-resistant clay to heat the smelting furnace. (more)

US Economic Calendar for the Week

Date	Time (ET)	Statistic	For	Actual	Briefing Forecast	Market Expects	Prior	Revised From
Dec 7	3:00 PM	Consumer Credit	Oct	-	-$2.0B	-$2.3B	$2.1B	-
Dec 8	7:00 AM	MBA Mortgage Applications	12/03	-	NA	NA	-16.5%	-
Dec 8	10:30 AM	Crude Inventories	12/04	-	NA	NA	1.07M	-
Dec 9	8:30 AM	Initial Claims	12/04	-	420K	430K	436K	-
Dec 9	8:30 AM	Continuing Claims	11/27	-	4250K	4250K	4270K	-
Dec 9	10:00 AM	Wholesale Inventories	Oct	-	0.5%	0.8%	1.5%	-
Dec 10	8:30 AM	Trade Balance	Oct	-	-$43.0B	-$44.4B	-$44.0B	-
Dec 10	8:30 AM	Export Prices ex-ag.	Nov	-	NA	NA	0.7%	-
Dec 10	8:30 AM	Import Prices ex-oil	Nov	-	NA	NA	0.3%	-
Dec 10	9:55 AM	Mich Sentiment	Dec	-	72.5	72.5	71.6	-
Dec 10	2:00 PM	Treasury Budget	Nov	-	NA	-$134.0B	-$120.3B	-

Bloomberg Markets Magazine - January 2011

Bloomberg Markets is the best kept secret in the financial industry. Learn what many Hedge Fund and Portfolio Managers already know. Bloomberg Markets is the must have guide to what's happening now, and what will happen in global finance.

read it here

Hugh Hendry December Commentary: Must Read

The Eclectica Fund - Manager Commentary - December 2010

Distressed Homes in U.S. Sell at Biggest Discount in Five Years

U.S. homes in the foreclosure process sold for about 32 percent less than non-distressed properties in the third quarter, the biggest discount in five years, as buyer demand slumped, according to RealtyTrac Inc.

The average discount for bank-owned real estate, residences in default or those scheduled for auction rose from 29 percent a year earlier, RealtyTrac said in a report today. A quarter of all U.S. transactions involved those types of homes, according to the Irvine, California-based data seller.

Sales of foreclosure properties plunged 31 percent as the end of a buyer tax credit reduced purchases overall, RealtyTrac said. The decline came before loan servicers including Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. halted some home seizures amid claims that employees processed thousands of documents without verifying them, a practice known as robo-signing. (more)

Art Cashin On Corriente's "Enormous China Bubble"

Some time in January, we presented an extended analysis by Mark Hart's Corriente Fund in which the successful hedge manager presented a comprehensive case for the Chinese bubble. Today, about a year later, and after China is finally on the verge of realy pulling in the liquidity avalanche, tired of importing Bernanke's rampant inflation, Art Cashin looks at the very same Mark Hart in his market commentary: "Several readers asked if I had more details on Mark Hart’s bearish call on China. I pulled up a couple of articles, most notably the U.K. Telegraph. Mr. Hart manages Corriente Advisors. He set up a bearish sub-prime fund in 2006 and a bearish European debt fund in 2007. The anomalies he sees in China are somewhat familiar: Excess floor space exceeds 3.3 billion square meters and there are still 200m being built this year; The price to rent ratio is 39.4 times versus 22.8 times in America before the housing crises; Banks are hiding their exposure in Local Investment Vehicles; On a Sovereign level, China’s debt to GDP comes out at 107%, five times published numbers; China has consumed just 65% of the cement it has produced in the last six years; There are 200m tons of excess steel capacity, more than the EU and Japan’s total production this year. According to the articles, Mr. Hart has been growing bearish on China for months. Several other successful hedge fund managers are also said to be making negative bets on China. It certainly bears watching." We would like to help Art, and provide with a redux of what we posted back in January that summarizes Corriente's outlook. (more)