Silver has suffered horrendously in 2013’s opening months, plunging dramatically to miserable lows.  This exceptional weakness has naturally kindled extreme bearishness.  Predictions abound for silver to continue selling off indefinitely.  But amidst this severe carnage, the silver bullion held...

As I said in Tuesday’s post, the Fed is in a difficult corner right now.  With the economic slowdown continuing, the Fed has to be hesitant about actually beginning to remove the punchbowl.  But at the same time, it wouldn’t want to take a chance on keeping the spigot open too long and creatin...

All who have followed me over the last three years know I’ve taken a very strong stance on the mobile computing wars, their prospective winners, losers and the benefits/pitfalls to be had from such intense competition. Outside of possibly Goldman Sachs, the most controversial, blindly beloved...

Curve Watchers Anonymous has been watching a major selloff in Japanese bonds. Here are a couple charts to consider. 10-Year Japanese Government Bond Yield 5-Year Japanese Government Bond Yield Since March 4, the 5-year yield has gone from 0.1% to 0.43%. Although a mere .33 percentage points, the m...

Gold and silver have been THE financial news in recent weeks. The coverage began during mid-April’s three-day price decline, but the real precious metals story goes back further than that. Since 2011, gold and silver have declined more than 30% and 50%, respectively. Continue reading to le...

CNBC:  Global Markets Roiled by Nikkei’s 7.3% Slide  “Financial markets around the world were roiled Thursday after Japanese stocks suffered their biggest slide since the country was hit by a devastating tsunami more than two years ago.  Several reasons have been blamed for the 7.3 p...

The HSBC Flash China Manufacturing PMI™ shows China Manufacturing Slips Back Into Contraction.  Key Points Flash China Manufacturing PMI™ at 49.6 (50.4 in April). Seven-month low. Flash China Manufacturing Output Index at 51.0 (51.1 in April). Three-month low. click on chart for sharper ima...

While the world’s economies jockey one another for the lead in the currency devaluation derby, it’s worth considering the value of the prize they are seeking. They believe a weak currency opens the door to trade dominance, by allowing manufacturers to undercut foreign rivals, and to econ...

Existing home sales for April came in at 4.97 million from an upwardly revised March reading of 4.94 million (originally 4.92 million.)  However, the question remains that with rising home prices, and tightening supply, when do potential buyers get priced out of home ownership?  Today’s char...

Perhaps THE biggest event so far this week was the breakout in 10-Yr UST yields today north of 2%. As shown below, the 10-Yr UST broke the bearish trend that has been in place since 2011. With the current move north of 2% the next stopping point is likely to be 2.4%, which marked the late 2010 low a...

The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) data on volume sales is over two months old when it released. The latest numbers, through mid-March, were published today. However, despite the lag, this report offers an interesting perspective on fascinating aspects of the ...

As the global equity and bond markets grind ever higher, abundant signs exist that we are once again living through an asset bubble – or rather a whole series of bubbles in a variety of markets. This makes this period quite interesting, but also quite dangerous. With equity and bond markets at o...