Gold not shining lately...hmmm

Gold bugs call your office!

As gold goes so goes the dollar in the opposite direction? That is what we’ve been seeing lately. Today, gold is sharply lower at the moment and trading below its 200-day and 28-day moving averages. Notice the classic lower highs and lower lows on the chart...

Keeping an Eye on GBP after the BOE

Is it over yet? Has the Bank of England reached a bottom with their rate cuts?

After today’s meeting BOE interest rates sit at 1.5% -- a 50 basis point haircut. Bloomberg.com tells us this is the lowest BOE rates have gone since the bank’s introduction. Whoa.

So far, the central bank and government in the United Kingdom have been throwing a lot of hope (read as: time and money) at the wall. But nothing seems to be sticking. The obvious indication is the availability, or flow, of credit among consumers. The situation remains really tight; lending and borrowing is minimal.

Stocks AND Dollar to Rally in the First Half? Keep Hope Alive

So was it Obama yesterday? Was it his words that sent the US dollar chugging higher? Did stocks rally sharply on Friday in anticipation of Obama?

So it goes, Obama's newest proposal to drag the US economy out of the ditch it's in went above and beyond the plans he'd been expected to unroll. The larger-than-anticipated amount of "stimulus" taking the form of tax cuts seemed to have caught many off their guard.

We’re Bullish on the US Dollar Today ... and Tomorrow!

Do you remember what economists used to tell us about the global economy? If not, let me remind you.

I remember the mantra-like chant from very clearly: There are major imbalances across the global economy. Some countries save too much, others borrow and spend too much.

Of course the US seemed be the one to blame no matter the shape or weaknesses elsewhere. The gut wrenching credit crunch of 2008 is a symptom of global rebalancing. And there's no reason why it won't continue well into 2009. But my guess for 2009 is this: the United States economy could get a lot uglier, but the pain of rebalancing will be even more severe in Europe, Asia, and Latin America and hit those economies a lot harder than is now priced into the market.