Politics Is Economics In The Week Ahead

Politics Is Economics In The Week Ahead

Many people assume that politics and economics are separate spheres. We find ourselves often harkening back to the even older tradition of referring to “political economy”. After all it was Harold Laswell, who is regarded as the father of modern political science, that famously defined politics as who gets what, when and how. Isn’t that […]
Dividend Investors Should Focus On Stocks, Not The Market

Dividend Investors Should Focus On Stocks, Not The Market

The election may be settled, but investors’ fears are not. When Barack Obama was first elected, the market plunged on worries of the looming Fiscal Cliff and European concerns. Budget negotiations began on Capitol Hill, optimism returned and the market responded. More recently, Obama’s popularity plunged, then the Republicans regained control of the Senate. Is it a […]
The Best And Worst Performing Assets During Thanksgiving Week

The Best And Worst Performing Assets During Thanksgiving Week

While technicals remain largely meaningless in the global centrally-planned “USSR market” (as penned by Russell Napier, who asked “Which World Has No Volume, No Volatility And Rising Prices?”, his answer: the USSR), pattern-seeking carbon-based traders still find refuge in the comfort provided by technical analysis. So for all those who believe past performance is indicative of future results, here […]
Report: Amazon Plans To Launch Travel Service, Hotel Booking

Report: Amazon Plans To Launch Travel Service, Hotel Booking

Skift is reporting that Amazon (AMZN) is poised to launch its own travel service, featuring booking at independent hotels and resorts near major cities. The initial rollout of Amazon Travel would feature a curated selection of hotels within a few hours’ drive from New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The service will likely go live around January 1. […]
Weighing The Week Ahead: Are Investors Too Complacent?

Weighing The Week Ahead: Are Investors Too Complacent?

The upcoming calendar has plenty of data in a holiday-shortened week. There could be OPEC, or Black Friday news. In spite of this avalanche of information, I expect commentators to look for an organizing principle. In a week when many will be giving thanks, there will be scrutiny of the new market highs. Many will […]
How To Find The Best Sector ETFs

How To Find The Best Sector ETFs

Finding the best ETFs is an increasingly difficult task with so many to choose from. How can you choose with so many available ETF’s? Why ETF Labels are Confusing There are at least 44 different Financials ETFs and at least 188 ETFs across all sectors. Do you need that many choices? How different can the […]
A Tale Of Two Economies – It Was The Better Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times

A Tale Of Two Economies – It Was The Better Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times

Guest Post by Paul Kasriel, The Econtrarian As quantitative easing comes to an end (apparently) by the Fed and is taken up by the European Central Bank (ECB), let’s compare the behavior of nominal domestic demand in each central bank’s economy and venture a reason for any differences. Plotted in Chart 1 are index values […]
Lower Oil Prices And The U.S. Economy

Lower Oil Prices And The U.S. Economy

For the last 4 years, the national average retail price of gasoline in the United States stayed within a range of $3.25-$4.00 a gallon. But that all changed this fall, with U.S. consumers now paying an average price of $2.82. Source: New Jersey Historical Gas Price Charts Provided by GasBuddy.com This usually is the time of year when gasoline prices […]
Employee Quits Are Up: Is It Time To Raise Wages?

Employee Quits Are Up: Is It Time To Raise Wages?

The number of employees quitting their jobs is the highest it has been since early 2008, when the recession was just getting started. The number of vacant jobs is the highest it has been since 2001. The unemployment rate continues to fall. Only one thing has not changed: wage inflation. Is it time for companies […]
Fear Of “Surge In Debt Defaults, Business Failures And Job Losses” Means Many More Chinese Rate Cuts

Fear Of “Surge In Debt Defaults, Business Failures And Job Losses” Means Many More Chinese Rate Cuts

If admitting you have a problem is the first step toward recovery, then China is making progress. The question is progress to what, because the generic answer, “another debt-fueled boom” is no longer applicable. Recall that as we noted here initially in the summer of 2013, the very reason why China finds itself in a reformist quandary […]