Last week was exciting as investments rocketed higher or tank… We saw Gold and the US Dollar pop while oil and equities dropped sharply with heavy volume. Just to recap, Wednesday the market went into free-fall mode sending traders and investors running for the door. This was obvious from looking at the large percent drop coupled with heavy selling....

StockTiger.net This week we learned that the trade deficit widened to $49.9 billion in June from a revised $42.0 billion in May. The wider deficit came as a surprise to economists, who had expected the deficit to narrow modestly to $42.2 billion from the $42.3 billion originally reported for the previous month. Also this week first-time claims...

By Phil of Phil’s Stock World What are people thinking? It is interesting to see so many of the same people calling for a “double dip” recession while at the same time railing against government spending.  The US Government is spending $3.5Tn this year.  Admittedly that’s $1.5Tn more than they have, but it’s quite...

by Tyler Durden The week’s notable moves in swaps, swaptions, yields, asset swaps and mortgages. Pay particular attention to the fireworks in the 6.0 swap, the 4.5/5.0 swap, and the 4.5 butterfly. Thank you Fed. Source: Morgan Stanley

by Karl Denninger This week we are going to be treated to a “major” hearing on reform of the GSE’s – Fannie and Freddie – and an overhaul of the housing finance system in the United States. In order to set the stage, we must look at what happened with these GSEs and why, and whether the current structure led to the...

Fooled by Stimulus, by Eric Sprott and David Franklin Despite our firm’s history of investing primarily in equities, we’ve spent much of this past year writing about the government debt market. We’ve chosen to focus on government debt because we fear its impact on the equity markets as a whole. Government debt is an intrinsically important...

Traders & Investors Norman Hallett, the Internet’s foremost authority on Trading Discipline is going to be holding “TWIN” Webinars… What I mean is that he’ll be holding 2 Webinars, each covering the same material, but given at 2 different times to accommodate his worldwide audiance. These are LIVE Webinars that will...

By Doug Hornig, Senior Editor, Casey Research Media coverage of the oil spill’s effect on the Gulf focusing on tourist income lost by the waterfront towns – with footage of empty beaches, restaurants and T-shirt shops – dominates the news. Interviews with devastated business owners are heart rending. But they always end with references...

Tim Iacono Writing for the Vangaurd Blog, John Ameriks offers these thoughts about how the world’s smartest investors are foolishly piling into gold and how some of the richest people in the world are deluding themselves if they think the metal will help preserve their wealth. We’ve been hearing a lot about gold over the last few months, related...

Courtesy of Tyler Durden Sick and tired of CNBC “interviews” in which the speaker is given 15 seconds in between commercials to explain why the economy is in the toilet, before another talking head from the dodecabox appears and starts spouting painfully ridiculous things? So are we. Which is why we refuse to link to David Rosenberg’s...

Tyler Durden Rick Santelli went a little nuts this morning, in a rant that easily qualifies in his Top 3 of all time. The gratuitous rating tends to correlate with the peak dB achieved while screaming at some gratuitous idiot and/or the length of applause by fellow CME floor members. (We also appreciate the advertising). Rick gets wound up based...

Courtesy of Mish A new Gallup Poll shows Spending Slumps Even With Back-to-School Underway Americans’ self-reported spending in stores, restaurants, gas stations, and online averaged $62 per day during the week ending Aug. 8. Early August consumer spending trends trail 2009 and will need to surge to match last year’s anemic back-to-school results. Gallup’s...

by Karl DenningerNot quite sure what it is, but this is not good. There’s no news on the wire that I can find that accounts for that move, but it is coming toward the end of the European session into a weekend. One has to wonder if the “euphoric” response to the so-called (bogus) “stress tests” is wearing off, whether...

by Tyler Durden And to think Friday 13th almost started off on a favorable footing. After JPM and even Deutsche Bank’s Lavorgnia whacked their Q2 GDP revision estimates to the low 1% range, Goldman joins in the realistic crowd, stating that based on retail sales data, “The report is not far enough off expectations to move the dial on...

Tim Iacono The Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose for the first time in three months, however, the gains were less than expected as confidence in the economic recovery continued to wane and consumers were wary of spending amid a weak labor market. A surge of 2.3 percent in gasoline station sales and a 1.6 percent boost in auto...