The markets have clearly put in a short-term bottom after the April to June correction. Whether this short-term bottom will turn into a more pronounced intermediate bottom that leads to a multi-week to multi-month rally is too soon to tell. That said, what the markets have going against them this time around that they did not have to contend with in 2009 is a decline in the leading economic indicators (LEIs) that are forecasting lower economic growth ahead, something the market is likely discounting now.
A Treasury Department report to Congress last week stated that total U.S. debt will climb to $19.6 trillion by 2015, as opposed to the 2019 date previously estimated. Treasury also estimated that total U.S. debt will top 13.6 trillion this year and would rise to 102% of GDP by 2015 as well. And most astonishingly, the report projected that the publicly traded debt (debt excluding intragovernmental obligations) would rise to $14 trillion by 2015, up from last year’s debt of “just” $7.5 trillion.
A property boom is helping to fuel the Chinese economy. Some analysts claim many new Chinese property owners are encouraged to take out mortgages to buy a home that they can ill afford. Sound familiar? Is China following the U.S.’s example, issuing mortgages that they can cover? If this is true it will bring down the rapid growth of China and the rest of the world suffer.
Global stock markets took a break overnight after a huge run-up in the U.S. markets on Tuesday. Investors pared positions ahead of Wednesday’s producer price, housing starts and industrial production reports.
The abandonment of the gold standard in 1971 is closely tied to the massive unemployment the industrialized world has suffered in recent years; Mexico, even with a lower level of industrialization than the developed countries, has also lost jobs due to the closing of industries; in recent years, the creation of new jobs in productive activities has been anemic at best.
Silver has been sizzling and causing lots of buzz in the industry. Investors are excited. Part of the hubbub is due to its current run. Since its February 8 low, silver has roared ahead 22.4% (through June 21) and has doubled from its November 2008 low.
Global fiat crisis timeline and outcome prediction.
By Shelby Moore III
Gold will go very high in fiat value, that is not the problem. Gold investors (myself included) are trapped at the end game, and they do not even realize it yet. The global fiat crisis timeline and outcome is explained and logically proven as the only likely outcome, and the implication on gold investors is emphasized, with links to resources to research ways to avoid the problem.
As the world hesitantly emerges from recession, the one question that seems to be on the lips of investors everywhere is: what’s next? As the tragedy continues to unfold in the Gulf of Mexico, with no fix in sight, market attention has suddenly shifted to the energy sector after years of neglect. Pundits and would-be energy experts are a dime a dozen. Speculation about oversold or underbought oil abounds.
A group of natural gas producers in North America are discovering the secret sauce to profits, and as a result many of them are outperforming their peers. It’s called “wet gas” or “liquid rich gas” or “natural gas liquids” or “NGL”, but any way you spell it, you get better cash flow than just regular “dry” gas. (Dry gas is methane.)