Hi, this is Adam Hewison and I have just returned from vacation in Maine. This is my first day at the office and my first video from the digital den. While I was away, I got to thinking about one of the oldest myths about trading: the buy and hold myth. While this strategy has worked in certain markets at certain times, I do not believe we are in a...

The Mess Greenspan Made It’s setting up to be an interesting few months of year-over-year price comparisons for different asset classes, the current look back at a year ago now showing that gold leads all others with a gain of more than 17 percent as indicated in green below (via the WSJ). Crude oil and real estate remain laggards and the U.S....

John Carney of Business Insider The Obama administration’s Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve are preparing new rules that they argue will reduce the risk to the financial health of banks that bonuses linked to performance can create. These efforts, however, are largely misdirected: our crisis was not brought about bankers recklessly...

By Ilene of Phil’s Stock World So who is Eric Falkenstein and how did he become an ex-portfolio manager with no portfolio to manage? Eric graduated from Northwestern with a PhD in economics and wrote his dissertation on cross sectional stock returns and volatility.  Prior to joining Telluride as a hedge fund manager in 2004, he had been using...

Courtesy of Edward Harrison at Credit Writedowns Following up on my “Sell equities” post, I want to highlight a factoid from today’s David Rosenberg’s Breakfast with Dave distribution. Never before has the S&P 500 rallied 60% from a low in such a short time frame as six months. And never before have we seen the S&P 500 rally 60% over...

Crude oil closed lower due to profit taking on Friday as it consolidates some of this week’s rally but remains above the 20 day moving average. Stochastics and the RSI a bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near term. The mid range close sets the stage for a steady opening on Monday. If October extends this month’s...

Courtesy of MISH If you have a job and it is not in jeopardy, pull out the party hats and toot your horns. The OECD calls an end to the global recession. The global downturn was effectively declared over yesterday, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) revealing that “clear signs of recovery are now visible”...

The NASDAQ 100 closed higher on Friday as it extends this month’s rally. The mid-range close sets the stage for a steady to higher opening on Monday. Stochastics and the RSI are overbought but remain neutral to bullish signaling that sideways to higher prices are possible near-term. If December extends this summer’s rally, weekly resistance...

Courtesy of CalculatedRisk From the WSJ: FDIC Considers Borrowing From Treasury to Shore Up Deposit Insurance Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said her agency is considering borrowing from the U.S. Treasury to replenish its deposit insurance fund. “We are carefully considering all options” including borrowing from...

Courtesy of Vincent Fernando and Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider Despite a few green shoots in the economy and a rocketing stock market, many large companies are still struggling to avoid bankruptcy. A new report by Audit Integrity identifies some high-profile names “that have the highest probability of declaring bankruptcy among publicly...

Zero Hedge Total Federal Reserve balance sheet assets for the week of September 16 of $2,101 billion ($30.7 billion higher compared to the prior week’s $2,071 bn), just $73 billion shy of the all time high of $2,174 billion recorded on April 22, consisting of: Securities held outright: $1,533 billion (an increase of $83.9 billion MoM, resulting...

Courtesy of Phil’s Stock World The SEC has proposed banning flash trading. “Investors that have access only to information displayed as public quotes may be harmed if market participants are able to flash orders and avoid the need to make the orders publicly available,” Chairman Mary Schapiro said.  Schapiro asked her staff in August to...

Courtesy of John Carney at Clusterstock Outside experts hired by Wells Fargo to pour through its books are reportedly shocked at the bank’s exposure to derivatives trades it took on when it acquired Wachovia may trigger huge losses at the bank, Teri Buhl reports at BankImplode.com It appears that Wachovia wrote credit default swaps on the junior...

Courtesy of Andrew Horowitz, The Disciplined Investor What do you think of this? Peter Schiff’s announcement on MSNBC. Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Courtesy of MISH Without a doubt, the strength and duration of the rally from the March low has surprised many people, me included. Inquiring minds are wondering “Is there still 1/3 more to come?” Barry Ritholtz makes the case the Rally May Only Be in 6th or 7th Inning. Noted bear Barry Ritholtz of Fusion IQ has been bullish on the market...