ShareBecause of changes in the way the unemployment rate is calculated, the figures today are apple to oranges comparisons to the ones quoted for the Great Depression or even the 1970s. Further, changes in the economy (less manufacturing) and the labor force composition (more women) make comparisons equally difficult.
Nevertheless, it bears noting that the [...]

ShareHas the bear market come to an end? It is certainly hard to say. In January, I called for 10% down in U.S. equities, which is basically where we are now (7900 on the Dow vs. the present 7776). My view has been that we would break through 2002 and 1998 lows [...]

This chart and the commentary both come from FT Alphaville:

A look at the Fed’s balance sheet currently will tell you it’s very much in the business of supporting liquidity/prices in assets other than Treasuries. The graph below is a month old, but the point still holds:

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2008 Political Landscape Map – Washington Post

For the second day in a row we are basking in the glow of an up market (update: or at least we were until the last 12 minutes). Everyone’s happy. But, some people are happier than others. And the happiest amongst the bunch are those people who are long commodities.

Although off its highs for the day, the Japanese Yen is still looking very strong against every major currency. Earlier, it pushed as high as 92 yen to the dollar. Jim Rogers was on Bloomberg saying it was headed much higher.

ShareThe United States had been living beyond its means for a very long time before the credit crisis finally hit. The truth of the matter is that U.S. monetary and fiscal policy rewarded risk-taking and leverage at the expense of prudence and saving.
The goal of government it seemed was to avoid the pain of [...]

ShareYesterday, I said that investors would begin to focus on the real economy now that the financial crisis has eased somewhat due to massive government intervention. Today, retail sales figures for September 2008 were released by the United States and they were much worse than expected. As a result, shares have dropped, with [...]

ShareThe last time faced a recession and a Bear Market of such viciousness was 35 years ago in the recession of 1973-1975. In the UK, it was truly horrific as inflation shot up to 25% and stocks dropped more than 90% in inflation-adjusted terms.
The Bear market of 1973-1974 simply does not get enough press. [...]

ShareIf the huge sell-off on Wall Street, the gaping up of LIBOR, the halt of credit liquidity everywhere, the nationalisation of financial institutions and the enormous TED spread are not enough to convince you that we are headed for a deflationary world, then the sell off in commodity currencies should!
Just two months ago, mining giant [...]