I occasionally go back through my blog posts to see how my predictions bore up after a year or so. This can be humbling, but sometimes you get it right. I’ll leave it to others to dig up the ones where I missed the mark. In August 2013, The Wall Street Journal Online and Asia…
If you follow gold, it bears to keep an eye on ChinaDetailsGlobal junk-bond defaults will rise to the highest level in seven years in 2016 as a prolonged downturn in commodity prices continues to wreak havoc on company profits and balance sheets, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The ratings company forecasts that the speculative-grade default rate will reach 4 percent this year, up from 3.5 percent…
Moody's Sees Junk Defaults Reaching Highest Since 2009DetailsGold has performed better than most other major asset classes this year, rallying around 16 percent since the start of the year as investors rushed into traditional the safe haven asset. With the price of the precious metal moving higher this week as sterling has plummeted, analysts are comparing gold’s moves to the European currency…
Gold Moves Revive Memories of 1990s Currency CrisisDetailsGold is still expensive, but rising economic risks and market turmoil mean investors should buy it for insurance, Deutsche Bank said Friday. The recovery since the global and European financial crises had put the price of gold under some pressure. The yellow metal, which some analysts view as a safe haven or as a protection against…
Deutsche Bank: It’s Time to Buy GoldDetailsWith more countries either introducing or talking about instating negative interest rates— Japan was the latest to go minus, on Jan. 29 — many Americans are concerned about what might happen here if the Federal Reserve has to reverse course and go the sub-zero route, too. One particular part of the investment industry is likely more…
The Big Risk Looming in Your Money Market FundDetailsU.S. companies could see their bottom lines slashed if the U.K. votes to leave the European Union in a so-called Brexit referendum this summer, according to Bank of America. Fears that the Brits will choose to exit the bloc it’s been a member of for more than 40 years have already sparked turmoil in pound…
Why U.S. Investors Should Fear a ‘Brexit’DetailsGold prices staged a solid rebound on Tuesday as a weaker trading session in Asia and further depreciation in the Chinese yuan spurred investors to buy into safe haven assets. Gold futures for April delivery GCJ6, +1.02% jumped $7.60, or 0.6%, to $1,217.70 an ounce, rising for the fourth time in five sessions. The contract…
Gold rebounds as safe-haven demand returnsDetailsI follow politics pretty closely. Back in November, I saw an article in FiveThirtyEight in which the author argued that the GOP’s primary and caucus rules doom the outsider candidates—Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Ben Carson—by tilting the playing field in favor of the insider candidates—Marco Rubio, John Kasich, and Jeb Bush. I thought the…
The South Carolina primary, one day outDetailsBank of America Merrill Lynch sees a 25 percent chance of a recession, but says the market is pricing in a 50 percent chance of a recession in the next 12 months. “In our view, not only is fear trumping fundamentals, but the fundamentals for the equity market are worse than for the overall economy,”…
BofA: Market Sees 50-50 Chance of RecessionDetailsAn unsettling trend has emerged from the heavy selling that sent global markets tumbling this year: Investors are getting nervous about the world’s biggest banks. The concerns about the banks are clearly reflected in the stock markets, where shares in banking giants are plunging. But there are also ominous signs in markets that investors use…
Nervousness about Global Banking Giants IntensifiesDetailsGold prices have soared $150 per ounce since the first of January and, if prices rise another $60, the yellow metal will officially cross the threshold into bull market territory. Gold is soaring because investors around the world are panicking about the state of the global economy. And when large investors panic, they run to…
Is gold’s recent rally a sign you should be worried?DetailsCentral banks have been pumping money into the global economy without a whole lot to show for it other than sharply higher stock prices, and even that has been on the downturn for the past year. Growth remains anemic, and worries are escalating that the U.S. and the rest of the world are on the…
$12.3 Trillion of QE has Added Up to...This?Details
