Browse by Tags

  • Export Growth Drives GDP!

    * GDP grows 3.3%! * But it's a one and done for GDP! * Plenty O' data today... * A Wall Street Journal interview... ** Export Growth Drives GDP! Good day... And a Happy Friday to one and all! A Fantastico Friday in my books because it will be the end of a bad week for yours truly, and the start of a 3-day Labor Day Holiday weekend! YAHOO! Another storm, Gustav, is headed for the Gulf Coast, and maybe Louisiana, which wouldn't be good. So my thoughts are with those in the path of Gustav. Gustav is causing some problems for the price of Oil, this bubblin' crude, black gold, Texas tea, has posted its weekly gain in two months! The rise in Oil prices has lit a fire under Gold, and put pressure on the dollar once again, along with inflation pressures to say the least! The dollar pushed the euro and other currencies lower yesterday after the 2nd QTR GDP surprised on the upside, posting a gain of 3.3% annualized... I told you twice this week that 2nd QTR GDP would be stronger and yesterday, I laid out the scenario that the boost would come from: 1. stimulus checks, and 2. export growth because of the weak dollar....
  • Central bank intervention is the reason...

    * Central Bank intervention is the reason... * Busy data week... * Australia's central bank to mirror the BOE?... * China to slow appreciation ... ** Central bank intervention is the reason... Good day... I know most of you opened the Pfennig up this morning hoping to get a blast of Chuck's witty writing style. Well the airlines arranged for Chuck to stay in San Francisco a little longer, so you'll have to wait another day. The currency markets continued to get hammered by the US$ on Friday with the dollar index climbing all the way back above 76, a level we haven't seen since mid February. The dollar did sell off a bit in early European trading, but it has started to climb again as I write. Several readers sent me an excellent opinion piece by James Turk which appeared on GoldMoney's website. Mr. Turk points to central bank intervention as a major reason for the recent dollar strength. The article agrees with what I was saying last week; that the dollar has no fundamental reason to be rallying. The reports and news out of the US have not been favorable to the greenback, and the twin deficits in the US continue to soar out of control. I mentioned that the recent moves of the dollar smacked of intervention, as the dollar only wanted to move in one direction, ignoring any data which would typically send it back down. Turk points to some data which backs up this intervention theory....
  • Are Freddie and Fannie Insolvent?

    * Poole slams Freddie and Fannie... * The dollar gets sold again... * Bad data for the dollar today... * Renminbi matches '07 performance! ** Are Freddie and Fannie Insolvent? Good day... And a Happy Friday to one and all! A Fabulous Friday indeed! The euro broke out of that tight trading range yesterday, we had a distorted Weekly Jobless Claims number, and the un-dynamic duo of Ben and Hank got taken to the woodshed by Ron Paul... All this and more as we head into the 2nd Friday of July! OK... First on this Fabulous Friday, I forgot to talk about ex-St. Louis Fed President William Poole's comments about Freddie and Fannie yesterday... These comments were responsible for bringing the mortgage meltdown front and center to the markets once again... So... What did Poole say? Well... Poole flatly stated that, "Freddie and Fannie Mae are insolvent"... Uh-Oh! As I thought earlier this week that this meltdown of Freddie and Fannie Mae could be the risk event I've been talking about... Well... If Poole is correct... We're here......