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Category Archives: Dow 5000 in 2013

Greedometer : December 16 2011

The greedometer registered 4600 rpm.   2011 continues to resemble a compressed version of 2007-2008.  The mini greedometer is topping-out for this cycle. There’s a new leg down about to begin.

2011: 2007 reprise

This year resembled 2007 in several respects. Immediately prior to both years: Wall St. forecast record earnings. The Fed and the majority of economists forecast 3% GDP growth. Yet both years saw wild volatility in stocks that finished where they started. Nearing the end of both years: Wall St was / is calling for record earnings the next year (it must be nice to always think things […] Read the rest of this entry »

The Italian Conundrum

Italy will need roughly $400B in the first 6 months of 2012. A comprehensive program to keep Italy on life support will be several times this because it will have to support Italy for 3 years and include recapitalizing its banks. And if you’re going to bailout Italy, you’re going to have to cover: Spain, Belgium, France, and Austria (probably in that order). The numbers boggle the […] Read the rest of this entry »

Europe needs a sucker. Pick up a mirror.

This is unreal. Early this morning central bankers made a surprise coordinated move to stop the banking system melt-down in Europe from worsening there, and from spreading beyond Europe. The debt-fueled financial system contagion has been slowly steam-rolling everything in its path. It had reached the point where banks in Europe could not stop it, were not lending to each other, and the ECB was unwilling/unable […] Read the rest of this entry »

What to expect, when you’re expecting financial system contagion.

Today, the IMF stepped into the fray to arrest the creeping financial system melt-down in Europe. The ECB refuses to ramp-up lending to its own, so the IMF is putting everyone’s money at stake instead. Let’s see….  European banks are being supported/ bailed out by their national governments. These national governments are being further bailed out by the supranational entity- the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB is hitting […] Read the rest of this entry »

Short Economic Stories: Europe

Big Picture: Europe continues to unravel. Banks still aren’t lending to each other. Bailout programs are being used up and are not big enough. The economy is entering recession yet budget cutting and tax raising have barely begun. Political leaders are being thrown out and there remain doubts newly installed leaders will be willing or able to cram the requisite medicine down the throats […] Read the rest of this entry »

Mini greedometer

  Either the US economy and stock market are about to “get well” and initiate another bull market, or things are about to take another leg down.  My short term indicator -the mini greedometer- helps provide insight…. The past 4 weeks have seen a stunning amount (all-in?) of bluster, threats, hope, hype, and political games in Europe. Yet there remains no plan to solve […] Read the rest of this entry »

Short Economic Stories: Europe

with thanks to The Economist for this fitting cartoon… Big Picture: Europe continues on the path of the past 2 years: blundering into disaster. Their economy is probably now in recession. Incumbent political leaders are seeing their support evaporate as their electorate “throw the bums out” in favor of someone new (that will tell them lies and throw them candy. Sound familiar?). Nationalism will […] Read the rest of this entry »

Short Economic Stories: US

•What a head fake! October saw the greatest 1-month rally in the S&P500 in 37 years. That’s what a bear market rally looks like. Are there any shorts left ? Surely they had all been squeezed out. Mind you this rally comes after the 5 previous months lost ground for stocks. This leaves the S&P500 a little in the red with 10 of 12 […] Read the rest of this entry »

Weekly Short Economic Stories

ECRI ‘s WLI indicator dropped to -10.1  two  weeks ago, and -10.0 last week. The WLI fell this low in February 2008 — 3 months into the Great Recession.  The odds are building that January 2012 will be the first month the US falls back into recession (but it could be December 2011).  Granted, a year ago I forecast 4Q 2011 would see a […] Read the rest of this entry »