July 2008

Zeitenwende, a German-language blog from Switzerland I subscribe to made a very good point this past holiday weekend after the Dow reached bear territory. U.S. investors had lost 20% on the Dow, but European investors would have lost much…

Who says producers can't pass on rising costs? This is one of the reasons many economists fear commodity inflation; somehow it gets embedded into the system if it goes on too long.Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Tide laundry…

We have lost one of the greatest stock pickers of all time. John Templeton passed away today.Global investor and philanthropist John Templeton has died at a hospital in the Bahamas. Spokesman Don Lehr said Templeton died Tuesday from…

$75 billion is the capital shortfall that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing, according to a report by Lehman Brothers. This type of worry is the reason for their sudden fall in the markets yesterday.Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac triggered…

This morning I was in my usual routine, listening to 'Wake Up To Money," and the first guest came on the show from the British Chambers of Commerce. He was alarmed at the sudden slowdown in the UK. Consumer confidence is down ad shoppers…

One cannot expect double digit returns from the U.S. market over the medium term as there are significant headwinds impeding that from high P/E ratios, reversion to the mean, consumer price inflation, credit deflation, high debt, to a…

North AmericaGM may be mulling thousands of job cuts - ReutersSt. Louis Fed Economist: Let Mortgage Mess Resolve Itself - Housing WireHome Prices Fall in 23 of 25 U.S. Metropolitan Areas - BloombergTSX falls more than 300 points on…

GDP revisions are coming out on July 31st right in the middle of Q2 earnings reports and before many banks get to report. These revisions could be significant according to Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg.As the revisions come…

When the Economist warned in 2005 that residential property prices were in bubble territory in many national markets, South Africa led the list by far with an eight-year price appreciation of 244%. Now it seems that bubble has popped…

Here are some charts from the latest issue of Barron's. They have a readable article on bear markets (for those of you subscribed to it) as the Dow was down over 20% last week. That's supposed to mark the beginning of a bear market as the…