Legendary Hedge Fund manager John Paulson made $20 billion during the economic crisis dubbed the great recession between 2007 and 2009. While many people lost their shirts Paulson aggressively shorted financials through derivative swaps. Paulson effectively made the greatest fade trade ever. He sold at the top while markets were still moving [...]

I always thought that was a catchy tune at the turn of the century. The Dow Jones has now settled above 10,000 here at the end of 2009. The market was cheered when it broke through this level March 19, 1999. Its funny how things never change. If you asked anyone [...]

To end the second week of November the Dow Jones gained 73 points to finish at 10,270 while oil prices dropped below $77. Oil traders cited American’s decline in consumption as the main reason for the sell off. In other news JC Penny reported a whopping loss of 78% in the third quarter, [...]

The Dow Jones finished the week at its 52 week high. The stock traders have cheered recent corporate earnings indicating that the recession has eased and the economy is in recovery mode. We still want to caution although earnings beat expectations they were still significantly weak considering the massive amounts of layoffs coupled [...]

In today’s news three major companies reported future job cuts. Nokia (NOK) will cut 5,700 Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) 8,000 and HSBC (HBC) 1,700. Despite these reports the headliner for today is that the worlds greatest investor has just purchased the railroad company Burlington Northern (BNI) outright. The deal will pay [...]

The stock market rose higher on its first trading day of November. This comes following a weekend in which nine banks were seized by the government and the FDIC’s balance sheet now stands in the red.
 
It is incredible how the stock market continues to shake of the bad news with any positives [...]

With the closure of nine banks in California, Illionis, Texas, and Arizona the FDIC is now in the red. The FDIC is now out of funds and will be borrowing from the Federal Government. Likely the bailout money will be going to the FDIC. This is probably the best use of the [...]

It is true $2 billion is less than 2% of the total bailout funds the government has been granted. But to completely waste it so that it has no effect on the economy is inexcusable.
 
This is just what Timothy Geithner and the Federal government effectively did with their aid to CIT group. [...]

Today was a significant day in the markets. The Dow Jones is down 100 points along with Oil and the EUR/USD taking a hit. The 3 month long rally in US stocks was accompanied with a sell off in the dollar and consequently an increase in oil prices. Currently Gold and the [...]

October 19th, 1987 The Stock Market dropped a staggering 22% in one day. This occurred on a Monday and is also referred to as the Black Swan. The movements in the market that day were equivalent to how trading would have looked over the course of a whole year. I interviewed a [...]

The US Stock Market Volatility is starting to ramp up. With the recent report of 3.5% increase in GDP the market celebrated with a strong run up of 200 points. This still left the DOW slightly below 10,000 the magical number. The following day weak consumer reports triggered a sell off of [...]

It has been a crazy past two years and the climax may yet to have arrived. Since the financial crisis started Gold has run up and eclipsed the $1,000 per ounce mark. Detroit housing is failing to sell at even $500 a parcel and one of Bernard Madoff’s closest friend passed away today. [...]

To be frank we have not really learned anything from the third quarter results. During this time the bailout money has been almost fully dispersed, quantitative easing has allowed stocks to run, and cuts to the labor force have lowered drag on corporate profits. Therefore, it is very hard to judge right now [...]

The DOW Jones is off over 100 points in intraday trading today. Poor earnings results from General Electrice (GE) and Bank of America (BAC) have led investors to swoon at the markets. This comes despite over 80% of economists reporting that the recession has ended. All the while unemployment and foreclosures are [...]

The Federal Bailout of over 2 Trillion dollars has taken a little time to get rolling, but we are already starting to see its effects on the financial markets. Strikingly, Gold has risen to over $1,000 an ounce and Oil has climbed above $70 a barrel. The commodity gurus like Jim Rodgers and [...]