This week I was on set for CNBC’s Fast Money show in New Jersey when we cut away to a live interview between Steve Liesman, Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs) and the legendary vaudeville comedy duo Simpson & Bowles, who’ve been tasked with helping congress resolve the national debt debacle. Here’s Alan Simpson, the Wyoming Senator…
“Europe Must Act Decisively!”
Information without knowledge is wrecking your brain’s ability to decipher what matters. I read an article in the New York Times about the conclusion of the IMF’s three-day meeting in Tokyo this week and at the end, I had no idea what I’d read. So I went back through it to make sure I hadn’t…
Clips from Fast Money Today
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Whither the Spoiled Children of Finance?
This morning I discussed the fact that half the working adult population over 45 years old has less than 25 grand saved so far for retirement. This afternoon, let’s visit a different tragedy in-the-making, one of expectation adjustment and the king of all reality checks. Here’s Michael Lewis at Bloomberg: I didn’t go looking for…
New Regime
The market’s tone has changed and a new regime is starting to take control. There are many indicators and flashing lights going from green to yellow. Techs are down six days in a row. Semis in particular look like a barrel of trash, and the lead times for semi orders eventually work their way into…
America is So Completely Unprepared For Retirement it’s Actually More Funny Than Sad
I’d add a comment to the below statistics compiled by the ConvergEx Group market strategists but my derision and black humour would almost be redundant when positioned around the facts themselves. If you were writing a brochure for a post-apocalyptic wonderland of woe and fear, you likely couldn’t trump the foreboding effect produced by what’s…
The Buyback Epidemic
This preference for financial engineering over hiring, expansion, M&A, or dividend issuance has been in force for a while now.
European Union Wins Nobel Peace Prize
This morning, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the entire European Union. The first thought I had upon hearing that news was “Great, how much can they pawn it for?” It was also pointed that out that, ironically, the selection committee is out of Norway, a nation that would fit perfectly into the EU…
Street Signs: Still Bullish on Visa, Mastercard
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Clips from Fast Money Today
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