Monthly Archives: September 2014

Are You Making This Financial “Mistake”?

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“Not many people give much thought to the financial standing of the banks to which they entrust money. That’s a mistake. When you deposit money in a bank, you become an unsecured creditor holding an IOU. That IOU is only as good as the financial standing of the bank.  In return for assuming this risk, what do you get? The highest interest account I have in the US pays me a whopping 0.46% annually.  That reassuring FDIC logo on your bank’s front door masks the fact that the FDIC Insurance Fund has a reserve ratio of 0.79%. For every $100 on deposit, the FDIC has only 79 cents to back it with.  The new global model is the ‘bail-in,’ first seen during the Cyprus banking crisis that began in 2013.”

http://www.nestmann.com/are-you-making-this-financial-mistake

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John Paulson holds onto gold ETF; Soros buys gold mining shares

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“Hedge fund Paulson & Co maintained its stake in the world’s biggest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, in the second quarter, while Soros Fund Management LLC sharply boosted his investment in gold mining stocks.  Legendary investor George Soros nearly doubled his ownership in a U.S. gold mining companies ETF and initiated new stakes in other gold producers, suggesting the big names in hedge funds continued to have confidence in the yellow metal.  Soros Fund Management increased his stake in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF to 2.05 million shares valued at $54 million at the end of the second quarter, compared with 1.16 million shares in Q1.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/15/us-hedgefunds-filings-gold-idUSKBN0GF0HU20140815

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George Soros Bets $2 Billion on Stock Market Collapse, But Buys Apple

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“Billionaire investor George Soros has increased his financial bet that U.S. stocks will collapse to more than $2 billion.  The legendary hedge fund manager has been raising his negative bet on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since late last year.  The latest 13-F filing with the SEC shows that Soros Fund Management increased its position in ‘puts’ on the SPDR S&P 500 exchange-traded fund by a staggering amount in the second quarter from the first.  However, Soros’ fund bought 182 new stocks in the second quarter. Soros also lifted positions in Apple and Facebook in a portfolio loaded up with stocks, ‘so he can’t possibly be all that gloomy,’ MarketWatch reported.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/george-soros-stock-market-S-P-500-bet/2014/08/16/id/589153/

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Investing: ‘When things go on sale, people run out of the store’

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“A preference for relatively cheap and out-of-fashion Chinese and Russian stocks over relatively expensive and in vogue US stocks makes perfect sense.  After all, on a trailing P/E of 6.9, each dollar of reported 12-month earnings in China will cost you $6.90. And on a trailing P/E of 5.6, each dollar of reported 12-month earnings in Russia will cost you $5.60.  Compare that to the US. On a trailing P/E of 20 for the MSCI USA Index, each dollar of reported 12-month earnings in the US will cost you $20.  Of course, the US stock market is rising.  This makes it easier for an investor to buy US stocks over Chinese or Russian stocks… because he has the comfort of doing so alongside the crowd.”

 

http://bonnerandpartners.com/theres-thing-bad-investment/

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A Company That Performs in all Markets

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“It is no different than going to the store and seeing a pound of hamburger sitting there and paying a premium for it over what you were willing to pay at the beginning of the year. It is no more complicated than that. If you looked at 2014′s returns you will see that about half of the 10 percent return, that is 5 percent of it, has come from the fact that people are willing to pay more for stocks. So, the fact that the market has increased a whopping 42 percent over the last 18 months, most of that is due to the fact that people are just willing to pay more for stocks and that is something that can go on for a while butit cannot continue. It is not sustainable. It will not hold the stock market at its lofty levels.”

 

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/company-performs-markets-65134

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How to Follow the Big Money

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“Total foreign ownership of U.S. assets (excluding complicated financial derivatives) rose from $16.594 trillion at the beginning of 2009 to a record $26.791 trillion at the end the first quarter of 2014.  That’s an astounding 61 percent gain in a short five years, a record for such a short time period.  It’s a total of more than 10 TRILLION DOLLARS that has flowed into U.S. investments from abroad.  Of that $10 trillion … $4.088 trillion, or more than 40 percent, was directly invested in portfolios that include equity investments, mutual funds, and other equity-related investments.  Moreover, nearly 20 percent of the $4.088 trillion … or $820 billion, came flooding in from foreign shores in 2013 alone.”

http://www.moneyandmarkets.com/follow-big-money-65060

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Liechtenstein for hire at $70,000 a night [2011]

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“The principality of Liechtenstein has decided to make itself available to private clients, from $70,000 (£43,000) a night, complete with customised street signs and temporary currency. Last year Snoop Dogg tried to hire it to use in a music video, but received a stern refusal from authorities.  Since then they have woken up to the marketing opportunities of their mountainous landscape. The price tag includes accommodation for 150 people, although the 35,000 inhabitants would remain. Any personal touches, such as an individual logo created out of candle wax or a customised medieval procession, come at an extra, undisclosed cost.”

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/15/liechtenstein-hire-rental-scheme

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California Dreamin’

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“If you hosted a barbeque this past Labor Day weekend, you probably noticed that food prices are up. A hamburger costs 10.3% more than last year, and a hotdog 6.9% more.  But that’s nothing compared to the insane price inflation Casey Research Chief Economist Bud Conrad witnessed at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a world-famous auto show and auction held in Monterey, California.  Below, Bud shares the details of his trip to Monterey, complete with photos and price tags of the most extravagant cars… including this 1963 Ferrari GTO that smashed the record for the most expensive car ever sold at auction. See if you can guess what it sold for before reading.”

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/california-dreamin

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Supposed Ruin in Hong Kong Leaves Out the Larger Picture

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“What’s going on in China and Hong Kong is ironic because it seems to mimic much that has held the West back in modern times. In fact, much that China suffers from at its current level of development corresponds to a similar evolution in the West.  From what we can tell, the RMB/Yuan is growing in importance as a currency in Hong Kong. Additionally, Hong Kong’s stock market is now heavily dependent on Chinese-listed companies. In fact, this might explain some of the growing income disparities that the Bloomberg article complains about.  Bloomberg seeks to blame an authoritarian Chinese political influence for what is happening to Hong Kong. But the truth is more complex.”

http://www.thedailybell.com/news-analysis/35613/Bloomberg-Reports-on-Ruin-in-Hong-Kong-But-Leaves-Out-the-Larger-Picture/

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Not Just the VA: Another example of government failure in healthcare

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“Jay Littlewolf is a Native American and a member of the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana. He’s talking about the Indian Health Service (IHS), another federal government-operated healthcare system. When the scandal broke about the VA, the media, pundits, and politicians quickly concluded that the remedy for the VA’s ills was reform: more funding, regulation, and accountability. But the occurrence of the same problems at the IHS suggests that these sorts of problems may be endemic to government-run systems. Unfortunately, few are stepping up to recommend a more permanent fix than to enact reforms to the existing systems.”

http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/not-just-the-va

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