ShareChristopher Wood, the well-noted market strategist at CLSA and writer of the classic Japan crash warning book “The Bubble Economy,” is now warning of a market correction in the West.  According to CNBC India, Wood believes that the markets’ extreme upward move is increasing the chances of a major correction.
Wood is still cautious. He says [...]

ShareHere’s another bullet point in our ongoing tally of reflation indicators. It’s the return of risk in the form of start-up hedge funds (John Meriwether included).
From the FT:
Hedge fund launches are growing in size and number after months of subdued activity in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers last year.
The revival of fund [...]

ShareThis is a guest post from our newest contributor, Charles D. Bull.
Greetings Writedowners,
Ed has gone to bed already. This is Charles D. Bull speaking.
You know, my wife told me yesterday that the local shopping area already has the Christmas tree up and is all geared up to drum up holiday season sales.  Shoppers were [...]

ShareJeremy Grantham is out with his much anticipated Quarterly Letter and it’s a good one. “Just Deserts and Markets Being Silly Again” is a cutting, snarling, and sarcastic rejection of the prevailing V-shaped recovery bull market view.  But Grantham is far from ultra-bearish, giving a more nuanced and realistic assessment for the medium and longer-term.
He [...]

ShareRichard Bernstein has done a huge reversal in the last few months from touting low-risk stocks to high-beta ones. He has gone from a preference for consumer staples to one for consumer cyclicals (XLY). And he has gone from lugubrious doubter of a sustainable recovery to an almost V-shaped optimism. 
What is remarkable about the [...]

ShareIn today’s morning with Dave article, Gluskin Sheff’s Chief Economist and Strategist says the macro environment makes it look like 2007 all over again – as if the crisis never happened.
It’s like 2008 and early 2009 never happened. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index just hit a 14-month high as the island benefits from Chinese growth, [...]

ShareYou have probably heard a lot of chatter from the media about a newfound thrift amongst American consumers.
The general take is that Americans, faced with lost incomes and wealth and burdened by record levels of debt, have moved away from the asset-based consumption models of yore. Instead of using the 401(k) or the house to [...]

That was the title of an e-mail I received from my bank today. Here is what the e-mail looked like:

ShareIn my last post, I presented you with a bunch of data on debt levels broken down by sector of the economy (see “A brief look at the Asset-Based Economy at economic turns”).  I found it interesting that a secular pattern seemed to be at play when looking at the household debt charts.
Notice the three [...]

ShareFollowing up on my “Sell equities” post, I want to highlight a factoid from today’s David Rosenberg’s Breakfast with Dave distribution.
Never before has the S&P 500 rallied 60% from a low in such a short time frame as six months. And never before have we seen the S&P 500 rally 60% over an interval in [...]