Facebook’s (FB) management team continues to get stronger with the recent addition of Susan Taylor as the chief accounting officer. Ms. Taylor comes over from LinkedIn (LNKD) where the company was focused on the white-hot social and mobile side of the economy, so this seems to be a brilliant pickup as she fits in well […]

As soon as any major country exits the Eurozone (and possibly some lesser ones), a cascade of defaults, unparalleled in history will commence. The only way to stop such a cascade would be if the ECB guaranteed (printed) enough euros to cover losses. Meanwhile, the already high Eurozone default risk keeps rising. From Eurointelligence via […]

As an unloved retail sector continues to grapple with the rise of e-commerce alongside declining mall and department store traffic, research firm Mizuho downgraded multiple names in the space Thursday on the industry’s still-cloudy outlook. The firm’s recommendation coincided with J.Jill’s (JILL) launch on the New York Stock Exchange, which was met with lukewarm response […]

Back at the top of the year, we wrote ETF prescriptions for the higher interest rate and inflation environment likely to emerge under the new administration (see “ETFs For High Rates And Inflation,”). Of the 11 ETFs we highlighted, none were gold portfolios. Why, several people asked me, did we forget bullion? Isn’t gold an inflation […]

Inflation-sensitive areas of the market were hit hard but then stabilized near the close. What is this spreadsheet telling us? The US Dollar is stronger relative to the Emerging Market currencies and the Euro. This means avoid commodities and the commodity-related stocks, and focus investments on US stocks over foreign. This chart below doesn’t look too […]