Currencies

The Gold Standard and the USD

Gold Standard flawed, but best alternative to USD manipulation The present US monetary system is an “abysmal failure” and the value of the USD has been manipulated, according to a former US Federal Reserve official. “For the last 40 yrs in Washington, regulate meant manipulate, with the Federal Reserve raising and lowering interest rates and [...]

Wall St PreMarket Gold, FX, Equities, Oil

Early indications suggested that stocks in economically sensitive sectors such as banks and those linked to natural resources would lead the decline. Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) fell 2.3 percent to $14.61 in premarket trade. Aluminum producer Alcoa (NYSE:AA) fell 1.2 percent to $8.95. The general move out of risky assets, such as equities and commodities, was [...]

EuroCrisis: Olli Rehn Trys to Talk up Economy

The European economy is suffering a mild and short-lived recession and is expected to witness a slow recovery at the start of 2-H this year and the next year, European Union (EU) Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said Friday, the statement shows how far from reality the European politicians now reside. Real economy [...]

US Dollar Index Outlook

USD Index slightly Higher in quiet trading 10-Yr: +02/32..1.876%.. USD-JPY: 79.92.. EUR- USD: 1.3053 The USD index has seen a quiet US session as action continues to hold small gains near 79.60. EUR-USD is -30 pips at 1.3055 as trade holds at critical support. Early weakness saw the single currency drop to 1.2955, but buyers [...]

Voters in Greece and France reject austerity

Voters in Greece and France reject austerity Greek voters dealt a blow to the political consensus that has kept Europe’s currency bloc intact through more than 2 yrs of crisis, rejecting the German led austerity-for-aid policies that have shielded the country from bankruptcy and a Euro exit. Greece’s vote, combined with Socialist Francois Hollande win [...]

Cuba Investment Reform to Spark Growth

In April, a senior Communist Party official, Estaban Lazo Hernandez, said in a speech that Cuba will move nearly 50% of the country’s economic activity to the “nonstate” sector in the coming 5 yrs, up from 5% now. This is not capitalism for capitalism’s sake, and political reform is not part of the program. The [...]

Asia Trading Update, Currencies, Gold, Oil, Equities

Live Asia Update from LTN and HCM Leaders in Financial News and Services in Asia Energy producers lost 1.3 percent, the biggest drop among 10 industries in the index. South Korea’s Kospi index retreated 0.3 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index (AS51) slid 0.7 percent. Japanese markets are closed for a holiday. The Hang Seng [...]

Durable Goods Manufacturing Led Growth

Durable-goods manufacturing, professional, scientific, and technical services, and information services were the leading contributors to U.S. economic growth in 2011, according to advance statistics on the breakout of real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, 15 of 22 industry groups contributed to the 1.7 percent increase in real [...]

RMB Trading Update

ICBC pledges to raise off-shore RMB trade in Europe The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) (London) plc said Monday it would work on raising off-shore trading of Chinese currency RMB in Europe. Xu Jinlei, general manager of ICBC London, said ICBC London would work hard to develop itself into a European center of [...]

The End of US Social Security

US Social Security and Medicare are insolvent in the long term The annual report of the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds was just released the report provides plenty of food for thought, and some fear. The Social Security trust funds for Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) plus Disability Insurance (DI) [...]

Investor Services

Private Equity Takes a Hit in Q1 2012

Most private-equity and hedge funds typically take 20 percent of investment gains as carried interest, on top of 2 percent of assets as a management fee to …