Markets

The S&P/Case-Shiller housing index is out for prices for June 2008. So, it's that time of the month again -- let's play the Case-Shiller time machine game. Basically, prices in the U.S. housing market have been falling for about two…

As far back as May, I had warned that commercial property was destined for a bust -- collateral damage in the real economy. In particular, I mentioned the U.S. commercial real estate (CRE) market as a particular problem for local and…

The past few weeks I have been chronicling how Europe is fast catching up to the United States in terms of the magnitude of the housing bust and its effects on its economies. I'd like to turn back to the United States and Northern…

Last week, I showed two charts on returns on the Dow Jones Industrial Average that had two seemingly contradictory messages. In the first chart measuring 10-year returns, one could clearly see that long-term returns have been declining…

I was listening to a money programme about the credit crunch in the UK this morning on my iPod Wake Up To Money (Podcast). They were discussing ways in which the credit crunch was made manifest to home buyers in the UK. In the broadcast,…

Since June, bond yields have fallen to the point where the U.S. government is getting paid to borrow money right across the entire yield curve. The 10-year is 3.8%, while inflation in the U.S. is 5.6% . What gives? This is either a flight…

Five-year returns almost never exceed 100% (denoted by the dotted red line in the chart). There are three notable bubble periods in stocks above 100%: pre-1929, pre-1987 and pre-1999*. This is not one of those periods.

For those of you interested in London property prices, the Times has a good rundown borough by borough in PDF. The Royal Borough tops the list with an average price over £1.4 million followed by Westminster at over £1 million. Why would…

'Buy and hold' is a myth that I hope dies an ugly death just like the Efficient Market Hypothesis. When one looks at the numbers, it is as plain as day that the stock market moves in sweeping trends that take decades to unfold.

Warren Buffett has done pretty well for himself, amassing a net worth north of $50 billion. Yet, for all his detailed analysis and combing through financial reports, he has never said he models things out to the nth degree.In fact, Buffett…