Every once in a while I like to post a collection of recent reports that should, in theory, help to undermine the enthusiasm that so many in Washington and on Wall Street have for the notion that the U.S. economy is ‘recovering.’
Of course, few of those people are interested in the truth, or even a version or reality that is at odds with their own, but I soldier on regardless.
Fools’ errand? Maybe (though probably not for those loyal FA visitors who are interested in knowing where things really stand).
A ground-breaking study takes a look at how many families in area counties are struggling to put food on their tables
Every day more than 700,000 people in Harris County are uncertain about where they will get their next meal. Not all of them are poor — many are working people who don’t qualify for federal food programs.
These are among the findings of a recent study that provides the first detailed look at hunger at the county level. Harris County families struggling to keep food on the table have a food budget shortfall of $12.97 per week, per person. To fill the meal gap, $277 million is needed annually to ensure that every person has three meals a day, according to the report’s calculations.
The federal government defines food insecurity as limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods. On average, food insecure families go at least seven months of the year without enough food, the study said.
The study, based on 2009 figures, was conducted by Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization, with the goal of helping local food banks develop better strategies to target hunger. Food banks traditionally have relied on state and national data to…
David Sokol’s attorney Barry Wm. Levine fires right back, and it is now popcorn time.
“David Sokol is deeply saddened that Mr. Buffett, whom he considered a friend and mentor, would disparage him as he has done today. Neither Mr. Buffett nor the Audit Committee at Berkshire has requested to speak nor has spoken to Mr. Sokol since his resignation was made public by Mr. Buffett on March 30th. Mr. Buffett drafted the March 30th press release announcing Mr. Sokol’s resignation in cooperation with Mr. Charlie Munger and Mr. Ronald Olson both of whom are Berkshire Board Members. They know the law and they know the Berkshire policies. In that context, Mr. Buffett correctly declared Mr. Sokol’s conduct lawful and indeed was effusive of his praise of him. There is no new information or new fact which has become available to them since that press release was issued on March 30th. At no time did Mr. Sokol attempt to withhold information from Mr. Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway or the Audit Committee. Every question asked of Mr. Sokol on or prior to March 30th and any information requested of him has been provided. The Audit Committee report, which was prepared by the law firm of Munger Tolles & Olson contains errors and omissions, both of which could have been avoided if the Audit Committee had inquired of Mr. Sokol.
It is alarming that Mr. Buffett would be advised to so completely flip-flop and resort to transparent scapegoatism. After 11 years of dedicated and hugely successful service to various Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries, Mr. Sokol would have expected to be treated fairly. That would have been in Berkshire’s interest.
Let me be clear about central facts: At no time did Mr. Sokol violate the law or any Berkshire policy. At no time did Mr. Sokol intend to personally profit at the expense of Berkshire or its shareholders. At no time did Mr. Sokol mislead or deceive. Such a conclusion would be wholly out of character and the Berkshire Board is keenly aware of that. At all times he faithfully discharged his fiduciary duties to Berkshire, a company he heroically served and continues to regard with reverence.”
Oddly this is an almost identical take to ours from earlier. The next Levine iteration will most certainly have an exhibit A…
In case you were wondering, like I was, what Geithner’s Notice of Proposed Determination excluding FX swaps and forwards from Dodd-Frank requirements was all about. - Ilene
Tim Geithner made a big choice Friday afternoon. He excluded FX spot and forwards from the Central Clearing requirements of Dodd-Frank ("D-F"). Tim’s words:
Treasury is today issuing a Notice of Proposed Determination providing that central clearing and exchange trading requirements would not apply to FX swaps and forwards.
The basis for Tim’s big decision was made clear in the Treasury announcement:
In contrast to other derivatives, FX swaps and forwards always require both parties to physically exchange the full amount of currency on fixed terms that are set at the outset of the contract.
Okay!Got that? Interbank FX is excluded from D-F because it requires a settlement. Unlike FX futures that have zero expectation of actual cash settlement (AKA: A bet) the FX spot and forward market requires that the parties exchange the currencies.
I think many people will like this distinction. The thinking is that if actually delivery of a commodity or currency is required, then it is a commercial transaction and not a bet speculation. But actually those folks don’t understand how the system works.
Tim Geithner knows how it works inside and out. He worked on the Fed desk in NY. Therefore he knows that the basis for his decision is flawed. The simple answer is that only a small fraction of interbank FX spot and forward transactions are actually settled for cash. They are netted out and settled by an outfit called CLS.
What’s CLS? A good description comes from Tim’s former employer, the Fed:
Is CLS a big deal? Does this outfit settle the lion’s share of all interbank spot and forward settlements?You bet it does. The Feb. numbers were a Multi-Trillion dollar blow out:
As a result of CLS 98% of all FX spot and forward transactions are netted out and settled with no delivery of the underlying currencies. So the argument that Tim has put forward in defense of his big choice is actually bogus.And he knows it.
I’ve been posting a monthly moving average update for the five ETFs in featured in Mebane Faber and Eric Richardson’s Ivy Portfolio since the spring of 2009, when I featured my review of the book.
In addition to the monthly updates, I’ve also made a couple of generic studies of momentum investing with moving averages.
Investing strategies are not the primary focus of my website, and I don’t personally track the performance of the Ivy Portfolio other than to highlight the monthly signals. For ETF performance tracking and backtesting, I use ETFReplay.com, an excellent website for analyzing the performance of individual ETFs and ETF portfolios based on customized moving-average strategies. There are many free tools on ETFReplay.com. However performance backtesting of portfolios does require a paid subscription.
The image below illustrates my research on the Ivy Portfolio since 2007. If you click the image, you’ll open a HUGE version that also shows the monthly performance over the complete range as compared to SPY (SPDR S&P 500 Index). For cash, I’ve used SHY (Barclays Low Duration Treasury (2-yr).
Now, the portfolio in this illustration doesn’t *exactly* match the Ivy five. I picked 2007 as my starting point to show the performance from before the market peak in the Fall of that year. Thus I was forced to make one substitution for the Ivy ETFs — EFA (iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund) in place of VEU (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF), which was launched in early 2007 and didn’t produce a 10-month signal until December of that year. But the substitution presumably understates the all-Vanguard IVY portfolio: I make this assumption because VEU has outperformed EFA since the March 2009 market low (129.5% versus 108.3% as of April 29).
For anyone interested in researching momentum investing with ETFs, the ETFReplay.com website is an outstanding resource, one that I’m pleased to include in my dshort.com Favorites.
The Endgame Headwinds
If Something Can’t Happen…
GDP = C + I + G + Net Exports
Increasing Productivity
Toronto, Cleveland, LA, Philadelphia, Boston, and Italy
I have written repeatedly about the Endgame in the weekly letter, as well as in a New York Times best-seller on the same topic. By Endgame I mean the period of time in which many of the developed economies of the world will either willingly deleverage or be forced to do so. This age of deleveraging will produce a fundamentally different economic environment, which the McKinsey study referenced below suggests will last anywhere from 4-6 years. Now, whether this deleveraging is orderly, as now appears to be the case in Britain, or more resembles what I have long predicted will be a violent default in Greece, it will create a profoundly different economic world from the one we have lived in for 60 years. This makes sense, in that the prior world was defined by ever-increasing amounts of leverage. Outright reductions in leverage or even a significant slowing of the rate of growth is a whole new ballgame, economically speaking.
In all this I have explained the various options facing the developed world, but I have refrained from putting forth my own estimates as to what will actually happen and what the environment surrounding that outcome will be. That is about to change. I have been giving this a great deal of thought and research. While my conclusions will be somewhat controversial (I know, surprise, surprise), with enough to offend almost everyone on some point, I hope that I can muster enough clarity to help you think through your own personal views and how you will respond to what I think will be yet another crisis on the not-too-distant horizon. Whether that is Crisis Lite or Crisis Depression is up to us and the politicians we elect. I argue that we need to choose most wisely, because we are at a crossroads that is as critical as any since 1940.
As I start this letter, I am on a flight to San Diego, where I will co-host my 8th annual Strategic Investment Conference. As usual, I will be the last speaker on Saturday. This letter will be the beginning of that speech, and we will conclude (hopefully) next week. What I hope…
Are the American people losing faith in the U.S. economy? The statistics that you are about to read might surprise you. Not everyone believes that the U.S. economy is dying (there are still millions out there that will swallow anything that the mainstream media tells them), but the reality is that there is a growing chunk of the population that has completely lost faith in our leaders and in our economic system.
A brand new Gallup poll has found that the number of Americans that believe that we are in a "depression" is actually larger than the number of Americans that believe that the economy is "growing". That is absolutely shocking because according to official government figures, the U.S. economy is growing right now and virtually nobody in the mainstream media or the government has used the term "depression" to describe the economic downturn that we went through recently. In fact, according to Gallup a total of 55% of the American people believe that we are either in a recession or a depression right now. This is clear evidence that the American people are losing faith in U.S. government economic statistics and instead they are basing their opinions on what they see in their own communities. Despite the pablum about an "economic recovery" constantly being spewed by Ben Bernanke and Barack Obama, faith in our economic system continues to decline. The truth is that the American people are not stupid. They can see what is happening to the economy.
Back when I was a teenager, one day I walked over to the local McDonald’s and filled out an application and was immediately hired.
But that is not how it works today.
Recently, McDonald’s made headlines when they held a National Hiring Day. Some commentators pointed to that event as evidence that the economy was recovering.
As we near the halfway point, an update on my 2011 forecast.
First, how we’ve done so far:
Forecast: “It could be US municipal defaults, policy shifts from the Chinese, EU crisis, or an expanded war inthe Middle East.”
Check: Although not officially declared a war, the ‘kinetic military action’ in Libya is an expansion of the ongoing wars in the Middle-East. Continued shifts in Chinese policy – evident by the April agreement between the BRICS to establish mutual lines of credit in local currencies, an important step towards the initiative to reduce/end the reign of the dollar as the world’s single reserve currency. Earlier this week it was reported that The Peoples Bank of China plans to shed $2 trillion of U$D assets. While this should not be a surprise and it will likely be a multi-year plan, it is still significant.
Forecast: “As food and energy prices rise, nations will feel the sting of money printing(already happening). This will only increase the number of civil protests (RIOTS). Developing nations will feel the brunt of higher inflation, which will lead to various measures to control price increases (e.g., Russia’s recent announcement of food controls or COMEX margin hikes).”
Check: Egyptian protests began just as I finished this piece and two weeks later, on 11 February, Mubarak resigned from office. Protests have since spread to Bahrain, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and even Wisconsin. There have been three COMEX margin requirement increases for silver futures since this article (four in 2011 – 1/21, 3/24, 4/24, 4/29).
Forecast: From a follow-up post (1/30) “QE2 appears to be an exercise in replacing the toxic assets purchased from the banks for Treasuries. Instead of returning any money back to the Treasury, they are exchanging the toxins for Treasuries. Thus, the Fed’s balance sheet will remain in the $2T…”
Check: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke may keep reinvesting maturing debt into Treasuries to maintain record stimulus even after making good on a pledge to complete $600 billion in bond purchases by the end of June.
OK enough, let’s look at the rest of 2011 –
2011: The rest of the story -
I am reaffirming my expectation for significant volatility starting in the 2nd half of 2011. From my January article: “As a result, I…
It’s time again for the weekend update of our “Real” Mega-Bears, an inflation-adjusted overlay of three secular bear markets. It aligns the current S&P 500 from the top of the Tech Bubble in March 2000, the Dow in of 1929, and the Nikkei 225 from its 1989 bubble high.
This chart is consistent with my preference for real (inflation-adjusted) analysis of long-term market behavior. The nominal all-time high in the index occurred in October 2007, but when we adjust for inflation, the “real” all-time high for the S&P 500 occurred in March 2000.
Here is a nominal version to help clarify the impact of inflation and deflation, which varied significantly across these three markets.
See also my alternate version, which charts the comparison from the 2007 nominal all-time high in the S&P 500. This series also includes the Nasdaq from the 2000 Tech Bubble peak.
My name is Grant Williams and I’m a precious metals bug.
There. I’ve said it.
It feels good to get that off my chest.
Of course, those amongst you who have been riding alongside me these past few years probably already had a sneaking suspicion that was the case and, I imagine, several more of you are now tutting, rolling your eyes and muttering “I KNEW it. Where’s that ‘Unsubscribe’ button?” (bottom of the last page – no offence taken). Well today, we’re going to talk about precious metals again I’m afraid, but in a broader sense if that helps at all. For readers who are over the whole precious metals thing, there’s a nice cartoon on the last page and you’ll find several stories about alternate subjects scattered throughout pages 7 to 15). For those of you still reading at this point, join me inside the recesses of my mind. Please keep your hands and arms inside the carriage at all times.
Whenever I look at an idea as either a potential trade or a possible thematic shift, the very first question I ask myself is ‘does this idea make sense?’. Plain old common sense. Nothing to do with the numbers or the likely quantum of any associated move, but would the idea seem reasonable if presented to someone with either zero, or at best a very limited background in finance?
Whilst stories around individual stocks can fulfill this criterion reasonably regularly, they often operate in confined parameters (a particular geography or a particular market segment for example) and so an idea is easier to explain and simple to quantify. It is much harder to find bigger picture, macro ideas that make secular sense because, for the most part, these ideas– but it is these big picture shifts that contain the possibility to make real money.
To illustrate this point, one of my favourite charts of all time demonstrates how, by making a single trade in each decade, it was possible to take $35 in 1970 and turn it into $159,591 in 2008. Of course, had you then made a 5th decision and completed the circle by reinvesting that $159,591 back into precious metals – this time silver – in 2008 (and, to ensure nobody accuses me…
Commodity speculators may or may not be the vile criminals the president and his new working group are making them out to be, but they sure have made their view clear on where they think the USD and the EUR (the JPY not so much) are going. Below is the latest update from the CFTC Commitment of traders report on the three key currencies. While there has been some modest short covering in both the USD and JPY, both continue to trade like the carry funding currencies they are. And with bullish spec positions in the EUR at a multi year highs, the only question is whether the yen or the dollar will be the carry currency of choice in the next beatdown. Of course, how the EUR is expected to retain its lofty perch with all of the PIIGS soon to go under is beyond us, but hopefully it makes sense to Trichet, who is stuck between an inflationary rock and a insolvent peripheral hard place.
Wondering what caused the sudden spike in the EUR? Wonder no more, for JPM's Greg Fuzesi merely put into words what everyone else had been speculating since this morning, namely more easing coming from the ECB. To wit: "We suspect the ECB's first response will be in terms of new liquidity measures. The committment to supply unlimited liquidity at the regular refis (1-week, 1-month and 3-month) expires in mid-July and an extension of this should b...
Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI) announced that its Board of Directors has approved a warrant purchase program, authorizing Kinder Morgan to repurchase in the aggregate up to $250 million of its warrants to purchase shares of Kinder Morgan Class P common stock, which are currently trading on the New York Stock Exchange on a when issued basis. Repurchases may be made by Kinder Morgan from time to time in open-market or privately-negotiated transactions as permitted by securities laws and other legal requirements, and subject to market conditions and other factors.
Under the repurchase program, there is no time limit for warrant repurchases, nor is there a minimum number of warrants that Kinder Morgan intends to repurchase. The repurchase program may be suspended or discontinued at any time without...
Despite the fact that U.S. equities are well-positioned and well-supported to go up, once again it is the headlines out of Europe—especially Greece—that are scaring off investors. Some are saying that it is now likely (and even desirable) that Greece will default on all its sovereign debt, withdraw from the euro, and severely devalue its domestic currency (Drachma?). This will allow them to operate a balanced budget while pumping cash into growth initiatives, rather than suffer the ravages of Germany-mandated austerity.
Some say, so what? Greece makes up only about 2% of the Eurozone’s overall economy. Nevertheless, you might say that this new “Grecian Formula” is creating the opposite effect to the men’s hair product, i.e.., rather than losing the gray we are al...
The market rallied higher once again on more rumors (some kind of unworkable bank deposit scheme: what Europe’s loan-deposit ratios look like), and denials of yesterday’s rumors (L-Pap now says Greece to say in EU, blah, blah). The second chart shows what’s involved with PIIGS banking deposits. Using hook theory, trading rumors is the modus operandi, and not just plain rumors; but rather, inside-job rumors. It’s only a matter of time before this market collapses, but one has to slough through the rigged foul stench along the way. Fund managers scramble all over themselves to load up on “safe” German Bunds and US Treasuries [...
The best to the point recap for today comes from Mark from MarketMontage (emphasis mine),
The market remains a mess right now as we are back to the environment of latter 2011 and middle 2010 where random comments from officials across the Atlantic move everything en masse. Today the market was hit by word that preparations for Greece's exit from the EU are being considered.
Of course a denial by another official would send the market up 1% immediately. Rinse, wash, repeat – year #3.
The bigger picture right now is all stocks are moving as one asset class as our massive correlations return. Until that changes it is very difficult to bother to be a stock picker.
According to IBD day four+ from the bottom is when we are lo...
Markets died and then rallied to flat again as European leaders “prepared contingencies” for a possible Grexit
Markets died hard and fast earlier today as major indexes registered as much as 1.5% of losses after news that Euro zone officials were unofficially “preparing contingencies” for a Greek exit from the Euro. Unofficial statements were not enough to keep markets down however, as major indexes rallied back to flat levels by the end of the day.
So the world continues to wait on Europe, as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEACA:SPY) gained .05%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEARCA:...
T - AT&T, Inc. – U.S. equities are on the decline as Europe’s woes once again take center stage. Shares in AT&T, down 0.90% at $33.24 this afternoon, are faring better than most of the other Dow components so far, though options activity on the wireless carrier suggests some strategists are bracing for further declines ahead of the long w...
To learn more, sign up for David's free newsletter and receive the free report from All About Trends - "How To Outperform 90% Of Wall Street With Just $500 A Week." Tell David PSW sent you. - Ilene...
The market remains a mess right now as we are back to the environment of latter 2011 and middle 2010 where random comments from officials across the Atlantic move everything en masse. Today the market was hit by word that preparations for Greece's exit from the EU are being considered.
Of course a denial by another official would send the market up 1% immediately. Rinse, wash, repeat – year #3.
The bigger picture right now is all stocks are moving as one asset class as our massive correlations return. Until that changes it is very difficult to bother to be a stock picker.
Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).
We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options.
Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.
To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here
NEW: Ilene is available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.
Here is this week's test version of the latest newsletter. We apologize for some formatting issues that need to be worked out. Please tell us what you think.
Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
In this article, please revisit an article written two years ago titled, "The Calm Before the Storm." This article focused on the patent cliff that was looming in the pharmaceutical industry, that was later picked up by the New York Times and several other bloggers! Subsequent articles were written about big pharma company's revenue streams, and the pros and cons of of their later stage pipelines. Other articles have also attempted to identify smaller biotechs with the potential to reap big reward...
My last weekend update is dated from January 30 so after a long hiatus, here is an update of our virtual portfolio. Since the last update, we have closed the AA Money portfolio due to a lack of enthusiasm (and activity) and I have stopped tracking the FAS strangle as the low VIX makes it hard to get rewarded for the risk! But we have added a small $5KP virtual portfolio which does not use any margin.
FAS Money
We have had to recover from a big move up by FAS and a low VIX which keeps option prices low. But the portfolio has gaine about 10% since the last update.
Last update P&L - $5499.00
IWM Money
Not a lot of activity in this portfolio where the main focus is on the large IWM BCS. But the portfolio has grown over 20% since the last update.
Last update P&L - $1998.00
$5KP Portfolio
This is the virtual portfolio that replaced the AA Money portfolio. It does not use margin and we will keep holdings under $5K.
AAPL $50K P...
Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(blogroll, archives,
more).
Contact Ilene to learn about our affiliate and
content sharing
programs.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn 
del.icio.us
Digg
German
Spanish
French
Italian
Portuguese
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Chinese
Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
(