Latest Posts

  • Finance 0

    Durability Test: W.P. Carey

    In my recent “bracketology” research, I analyzed over a dozen Net Lease REITs in order to determine the most durable one. In order to determine the most heavy-duty REIT, I provided “wide-moat” ratings for each, based on thirteen key resilience criteria. Although W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) was not the winner, the New York-based REIT scored well and deserves an honorable mention. It’s true that selecting sound securities based on measures of sturdiness is a central part of investing, but selecting sound securities trading at a margin of safety is critical. The basic idea behind value investing is that purchasing a sec...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Goldman Weighs In On America’s Pension Ponzi: Contributions Must Rise $100 Billion Per Year

    Over the past several months, we’ve taken a keen interest in the deteriorating condition of state and local government finances in America.  Moody’s move to downgrade the city of Chicago to junk in May put fiscal mismanagement in the national spotlight and indeed, the Illinois Supreme Court ruling that triggered the downgrade (in combination with a subsequent ruling by a Cook County court which struck down a bid to reform the city’s pensions), effectively set a precedent for other states and localities, meaning that now, solving the growing underfunded pension liability problem will be that much more difficult.  Just how big of a ...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Forex Week In Review – 8/17/2015

    Last week saw the American major markets make gains whilst the rest of the pack lost ground – the reverse of last week In Europe over the course of the week, the FTSE was down by 2.5%, it closed at 6550.7; the Dax ended at 10985, down by 4.4% on last week’s close; the CAC was down by 3.9% to end the session at 4956.5. The Dow ended the week up by 0.6% to close at 17477. The Nasdaq composite index ended up by 0.09% over the course of the week at 5048.2. The Nikkei 225 ended the week’s trading down by 1.1% to end the session at 20519. Currency markets review On the currency markets last week, the Euro enjoyed the best of the trading. The ...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Yuan Devaluation Stir Fries The Markets

    Is there a market shocker coming up? The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been many times criticized by Western economies, and particularly the U.S., for controlling its domestic currency, the yuan. But this time, the the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) decision to devalue the yuan against the U.S. dollar for three days in a row had an impact across global markets. Last Tuesday’s unexpected move initially had an impact on indices and particularly currencies of economies heavily reliant on exports to China, such as the Australian dollar (AUD). As it turned out, the devaluation of the yuan also affected the USD as fears have emerged tha...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    How To Make Money In China And Asia

    After all of the carnage in Chinese stocks this summer, some of you are probably patting yourselves on the back for avoiding China – and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region, for that matter. But if you followed my strategy for these markets, you’d be pleased as punch and out of China after a 100% gain in the last year. You see, in early 2014, Chinese stocks were dirt cheap, ignored and even hated with a passion by most investors. But as soon as an uptrend began to form, I recommended that investors begin buying. In just over a year, this momentum-driven market was up over 125%. I don’t know if this was a bubble. But my rule of thumb is ...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    China Stabilizes, Stocks And Bonds Sigh In Relief

    Fears of a quick sharp devaluation of the Chinese yuan, disrupting the global economy, sparking a currency war, have eased. For the second session, the yuan stabilized. The central reference rate (fix) was CNY6.3969, having finished the Shanghai session before the weekend at CNY6.3912. The fix then was CNY6.3975. While the oil downtrend is continuing today, bond prices are generally falling Curves are flattening as the long-end is down more than the short-end. Most of the major 10-year benchmarks are off 2-3 bp today, while two year yields are most little changed (+/- 0.5 basis points). With the hint over the weekend that Greece could quali...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Greeks Flock To Grassroots Alternative Currencies In Affront To Euro Debt Slavery

    Necessity is the mother of invention. When Christos Papaioannou noticed his car needed new tires, the Greek computer engineer bought them with euros—but used an alternative currency, called TEM, to pay his mechanic for the labor.  His country has avoided a catastrophic exit from the common currency, at least for now. But a small but growing number of cash-strapped Greeks, who are still grappling with strict money-withdrawal limits, have found another route in TEM and other unconventional payment systems like it.  Before then, Ms. Sotiropoulou said she was only aware of two such programs. No official record of the number of alternative ...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Yuan Devaluation Swirls Markets

    Yuan devaluated heavily following weak Chinese export data Flight to safety temporarily sends U.S. 10 year bond yield to lowest level since April Gold prices surge to highest in over three weeks Investors flee Emerging Markets, leading to depreciation in E.M. currencies Equity records significant losses by mid-week, though U.S. markets see some recovery July’s China Foreign Trade balance data came out as a major disappointment, last week, with both imports and exports decreasing by over 8% year over year. Negative data was followed by the People’s Bank of China increasing the daily fixing for the USDCNY by 1.9%, marking the larges...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    Income Inequality: Race And Gender Issues

    Introduction Here we analyse the evolution of two specific features of gender dependent personal income for three races in U.S. population: white, black and Hispanic. Our analysis includes extensive processing of actual data and theoretical consideration at the microeconomic level. In contrast to all other studies of income inequality we quantitatively predict individual incomes in a given economy together with various aggregate measures (e.g. the Gini ratio) using a complete dynamic model. This is an evolutionary model where the change of incomes is driven by one exogenous variable – real GDP per capita (for working age population) or me...
    On August 17, 2015 / By
  • Finance 0

    USDJPY: Susceptible, Faces Corrective Weakness Risk

    USDJPY:  Having capped its strength at the 1.2506 level to close marginally higher the past week, further corrective weakness is envisaged. On the upside, resistance resides at the 124.50 level with a turn above here aiming at the 125.00 level. A break will target the 125.50 level. Further out, resistance comes in at the 126.00 level where a violation will aim at the 126.50 level. On the downside, support comes in at the 124.00 level where a break will target the 123.50 level. Below here if seen will aim at the 123.00 level followed by the 122.50 level. On the whole, USDJPY remains exposed to the upside but faces corrective weakness....
    On August 17, 2015 / By