Economy Blog

Central bank lifts remaining capital controls as a result.…
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it’s difficult to see what will entice investors to hold U.S. dollars. And that, so far, is creating panic buying among commodity traders and a buyer’s strike among equity participants….
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investor demand via exchange traded funds has become a new phenomenon in the supply/demand equation, fueling the price spiral like never before….
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EUR/USD

EUR/JPY

EUR/TRY
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Deteriorating U.S. outlook weighs on appetite for regional currencies.…
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By Vipin Agnihotri The Chinese Dragon is on a new invasion mission, but this time in disguise. After becoming India’s third biggest trade partner, China now wants to enter into a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and get a Market Economy Status (MES) from …
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Strength in exports continues to surprise.…
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Word On The StreetWORD ON THE STREET VIDEOMiami: Latin America GatewayLatin money was the focus on the show tonight and this comes through the Miami. This is the bridge to one of the best investment opportunities on the planet right now. The developing world needs oil, ethanol and food. Companies like Brazil’s Petrobras (PBR) and Argentina’s Tenaris (TS) have the oil that is needed. Look at Latin American banks says Seymour. Banco Itau (ITU) or Banco Bradesco (BBD). You can also look to Bancolombia (CIB). Another play is Vale (RIO) or PBR for commodities. Macke is more skeptical, he does not see strength staying in emerging markets with the U.S. economy having so much weakness….
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RBA meets tomorrow to do what it should have done last month.…
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I have to admit I harbored some hope that Ben Stein wouldn’t have a column in the NYT this week. After all, he had three columns in December, two in January, and only one in February - simple extrapolation would have denied him any columns in March at all. But it was not to be, and today he has decided to d…
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By Vipin Agnihotri

For so many years, I…
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Muni bond yields are now in many cases trading through Treasury bond yields. (WSJ.com, Barrons.com)
Ergo, “buy muni bonds.” (Aleph Blog…
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The staff at most of the Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) recently went though a few hours for training. The nationwide program was designed to make the people working in the stores do a better job of serving customers that way that founder Howard Schultz thinks they should be served. If a customer is unhappy with a drink. he can simply ask to have it made again. What more could people want? Investors would think that the action of closing so many stores and putting so much effort into improving service would show results immediately. These results might not last, but they…
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The Dow and the TSX have had a volatile week, spending most of it up on commodities and news of big buybacks Wall Street began a downward turn Thursday that continued with heavy selling on Friday, as investors were faced with lower-than-expected earnings, worries about unemployment claims, and the prospect of more bank failures. The TSX struggled to maintain a weekly high brought on by big gains in commodities, energy, and financials.
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Japanese, Australian and New Zealand central banks meet this week.…
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addslashes(Nick Lachey Talks Hot Wheels and Cold, Hard Cash

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Delphi, the former parts operation of GE (NYSE:GM) wants out of Chapter 11. It had a $6.1 billion exit package, but the credit markets have crushed that. Now GM is faced with having to throw Delphi a rope. What can be done? According to Reuters “GM’s latest offer: $2.25 billion that had been scheduled to be paid out to the automaker in cash can instead be converted into debt for Delphi.” With troubles at its North American operations growing due to a slowing domestic market, GM hardly needs more trouble. It’s GMAC business, now majority owned by Cerberus, is also…
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A number of politicians and other patriots were worried that the US military awarding of a contract to build tankers may not have been good for US industry. The contract went to American firm Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) and EADS, the French-based owner of Airbus. Boeing (NYSE:BA), the predicted winner, was left out in the cold. Some of these concerns miss a critical point. GE (NYSE:GE) will get an order for almost 400 jet engines as part of the larger contract. That is worth about $5 billion. Douglas A. McIntyre
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Almost 200,000 newly constructed single-family homes are sitting empty in the U.S., the most since Commerce Department statistics began in 1973….
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I won’t really ever be happy until Best Buy is a teenager. It’s my least favorite retailer in America. I have lost way too much money shorting this in my trading days so I just occasionally catch a headline and check in.
Everything they sell can be bought cheaper and faster with MORE service…online! It’s not if…but when.
If you own a mutual fund that owns this, they are lazy, and indexing. They will justify it by saying that Best Buy is the BEST of the WORST. Actually, I was just reading Yahoo finance headlines and I swear, Forbes rolled that old line out already:
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