SP 500 September Futures Daily Chart

Thin volumes and a sleepy trading day, signifying little.

Earnings season begins on Monday with Alcoa. Yum Brands on Tuesday, but I suspect most eyes will be on the TBTF banks.

CNBC Europe: Is Gold a Bubble, Or an Outstanding Value, or Both?

My friend Horst from Germany sent this to me.

I think you will find it to be of interest.

The subject discussion revolves around the currencies, paper gold, and bullion.

Ben Davies, CEO of Hinde Capital



I cannot help but note that the level of discussion in CNBC Europe and Bloomberg Asia is much more serious than that of Bloomberg and CNBC USA. I wonder why this is, given the global character of the financial markets.

And then there is Fox Business where T/A does not necessarily have anything to do with technical analysis or charting.

Double Dip Est Arrivé: Institutional Risk Analyst

Chris Whalen of Institutional Risk Analyst has this interesting interview on CNBC, sent to me by a reader.

I have not watched that television channel in some years, finding their shallowness and hypocrisy too much to bear. Of course my refuge, Bloomberg Television, has lowered its standards so much, with spokesmodels and smirking chimps, that it may have achieved parity. Are Cramer, Kudlow and Kernan still kicking? Remarkable.

This is an interesting exposition of the currency wars, and the pandering to the big financial institutions by the Fed over the past fifteen years, ultimately at the expense of the real economy in the distortions and misallocation of capital which the financial engineers have fostered.

Here is the interview with Jim Rickards to which Chris alludes.



Chris Whalen sounds like me. I wonder if he can cook?

US Housing Crash; If It Bleeds, It's Buried; Congress Fiddles While the Economy Burns

Rumours of an economic recovery in the US seem to be greatly exaggerated.

The mainstream media, Wall Street, and Washington have expanded their policy of 'extend and pretend' to 'if it bleeds, it's buried.'







h/t to Michael David White's Housing Story for the charts and the tag line.