Markets

Wading into the controversy surrounding Peter Schiff's investment under-performance, the Wall Street Journal has released an article which calls into question the fundamental arguments for Schiff's investment strategy. Schiff, a fund…

The monthly Nationwide Building Society survey is out for house prices in the U.K. The data show an annual fall that is the steepest on record at 16.6%. This means that house prices are now falling more rapidly than ever in the U.K. and…

In November, the U.S. federal agencies which oversee the banking system proposed new guidelines for real estate appraisals. One would imagine that these guidelines would be in keeping with the new more stringent regulatory frame of mind…

I have yet to read what the media has reported on the new Case-Shiller Housing Index numbers for November 2008. However, I have crunched the numbers and they do not look very good. For the Composite-20 list of cities, the index is down…

Update 08 Mar 2009: Remember this: Wells Fargo gave anxious investors a pleasant surprise Wednesday, reporting a profit drop that was milder than anticipated and lifting its quarterly dividend by 10 percent. Wells Fargo’s…

Louise Yamada is one of Wall Street's foremost technical analyst. She is quite bearish and thinks the Dow Jones Industrial Average could go to 6000. Her advice: sell stocks.

Recently, I was discussing the economy with a lawyer expert in both commercial real estate and taxation, workouts, and bankruptcy. He made a few statements that I felt relevant enough to pass on here.

I read about ConocoPhillips taking a massive $34 billion writedown and my first reaction was glee. Why? This type of draconian response demonstrates that the glut of oil we now see will soon be a deficit. The oil patch is notoriously…

Fred Hickey is bullish. This is big news. He has sold all of his puts for the first time in years and is now playing the markets from the long side. His favorite picks are in precious metals and technology. See the attached video during…

The credit default swaps (CDS) market is going to be a nightmare in 2009 because corporate bankruptcies are really picking up in the new year. The first major CDS settlement occurred yesterday and it was a near complete loss for sellers of…