Watch Out For the Real Inflation Rate of Seven Percent -09/17/14 at 8:02 PM CDTby Perry Rod

Today, the United States Federal Reserve decided to continue its strategy of aggressive money printing, now in its sixth year after the market meltdown. The government today notes that inflation is low and under control. But here's the fundamental economic reality: The value of cash has been going down by an average of about seven percent per year. Compo...

John Paulson's "Greatest Trade Ever" - Something of a Scam -01/20/10 at 10:34 PM CSTby Mark Mitchell

By now, everybody knows that the market for collateralized debt obligations was riddled with fraud in the lead-up to the financial crisis. What is less known is the fact that hedge fund managers helped create and inflate the market for these toxic securities specifically so that they could bet against them and profit from the inevitable collapse. An examp...

The Coming Oil Conflict In Iran -01/19/10 at 12:12 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

Newsmakers and even the oil markets (USO, X, USL) have learned to get used to tensions between the West and Iran.  Last week, an Iranian physics professor linked to the country’s nuclear program was assassinated.  Iran blamed Israel and the United States for the remote control bombing of the man’s car.  Iran, for once, was proba...

SEC OIG Investigating SEC Complicity in Naked Short Selling of Dendre... -12/01/09 at 6:35 PM CSTby Mark Mitchell

The Office of the Inspector General of the Securities and Exchange Commission not long ago submitted a semi-annual report to Congress. There are two items in the report of interest to those of us who have argued that the SEC has turned a blind eye towards, or even assisted, unscrupulous hedge funds that make their fortunes destroying public companies for ...

Obama Bows, Iran Taunts, and Supply Peaks, Making it Time to Look at ... -11/24/09 at 4:30 PM CSTby Reggie Abaca

A series of events are making it highly probably that we are quickly approaching the day when the United States will suddenly attack Iran and oil prices will rise dramatically.  This type of scenario makes it the right time to invest in oil exchange traded funds: United States Oil Fund LP [NYSE:USO], United States 12 Month Oil Fund, LP [NYSE:USL], an...

United States Oil Fund Rises As Evidence Suggests The United States i... -10/13/09 at 10:41 AM CDTby Reggie Abaca

The United States Oil Fund and several other oil ETFs (USO, USL) may be benefiting from a report that was out last week highlighting Pentagon approval for a funding request with the following statement: "The Department has an Urgent Operational Need (UON) for the capability to strike hard and deeply buried targets in high threat environments. The MOP is t...

Retail Investors Outperforming Professionals With Citigroup, Ford, an... -08/21/09 at 11:14 AM CDTby Peter York

In today's market, it's not the professionals who are celebrating as much as the retail investors.  Consider three stocks that seem to show up in retail portfolios everywhere: Citigroup Inc. (C), Ford Motor Company (F), and Sirius XM Radio Inc (SIRI).  Institutional ownership in these stocks are well under 50% which suggests a significant retail...

Peak Oil Driving Crude Prices -08/07/09 at 10:09 AM CDTby Reggie Abaca

With better than expected unemployment numbers today, one would think that the supply and demand spread for crude oil (OIL) would begin to narrow in upcoming months.  After all, economic improvement means more demand for oil, right? But while the market celebrates the jobs report this morning, crude oil prices are dropping.  Oil traders do not a...

Citigroup When-Issued Share Discount Narrows -07/27/09 at 11:09 AM CDTby Peter York

The discount on when-issued shares of Citigroup Inc. decreased today from 5% to around 1.5%.  Citigroup buyers planning to hold until Friday can buy discounted "when issued" (formerly preferred exchange) shares on the open market rather than the common shares.  They will likely convert to common shares by Friday.  As of 12 p.m. eastern, vol...

Citigroup Shares Rise After Share Collapse in Japan -07/13/09 at 9:45 AM CDTby Peter York

Citigroup Inc. (C) shares in Tokyo had fallen over 6% last night, with the Nikkei index down 2.55%.  It looks like Japanese Citigroup traders may have overreacted. This morning, despite an analyst earnings warning, Citigroup shares are up around 3%, suggesting that Tokyo's light trading of Citigroup had little impact on United States trading.  C...

The Case For American Intervention in Iran -07/10/09 at 12:46 AM CDTby Perry Rod

Iranian-Americans voices have been heard in the United States.  Yes, America did support the Shah of Iran and even undermined democracy there.  Yes, America may be largely responsible for the current radical Islamic regime in Iran. However, American foreign policy as it relates to Iran has been an even bigger failure since 1979, when Iranians sh...