It is interesting that most consumer prefer specific brands. What is even more interesting is just how few companies make all of those brands. Marketing genius:
Noteworthy News – April 23, 2012
Economy:
1 in 2 new graduates are jobless or underemployed – Yahoo! Finance
Beware: A Chinese Recession Is Coming – Forbes
Occupations of the 1% – Conversable Economist
The third industrial revolution – Economist
How Many Minimum Wage Hours Does It Take To Afford A Two-Bedroom Apartment In Your State? – UpWorthy
Markets:
Why U.S. Companies Continue to Pay Dividends – Bloomberg
Is Speed Trader Mark Gorton Killing Wall Street? – Huffington Post
Politics:
Pot Legalization Could Save U.S. $13.7 Billion Per Year, 300 Economists Say – Huffington Post
Taxes—Who Really Is Paying Up – Wall Street Journal
Why the Euro Isn’t Worth Saving – The Atlantic
Europe: ‘Dark clouds on the horizon’ – CNNMoney
Banks:
Plutocrats and Printing Presses – New York Times (Krugman)
Derivatives: The Unregulated Global Casino for Banks – Demonocracy
Posted in Economics, Markets, Media, Politics.
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– April 22, 2012
Fear Barometer Bubbling
It was interesting to watch the Credit Suisse Fear Barometer rise from the low 20’s in December to an all time high of almost 32 in late February. If you do not remember, the CS Fear Barometer measures “fear” built into implied volatility skew by looking at zero cost collars on the S&P 500. The index assumes that you sell a 3-month, 10% out of the money call and use the proceeds to purchase a 3-month out of the money put. The moneyness of the put option that you can afford is the index itself, so if the index is at 25 it implies that you can purchase a 3-month put 25% out of the money with the premium that you received from selling the 10% OTM 3 month call.
Since index inception in November of 1994, this average level has been 16.9%. With the market turbulence of the last five years, the average has been closer to 20%:
I talked about this index in April 2011 and I am mentioning it again in April 2012. “It certainly does not give me a comfortable backdrop for being overly bullish.”
Posted in Derivatives, Markets, Technical Analysis.
– April 18, 2012
Noteworthy News – April 16, 2012
Economy:
Where do people go when they drop out of the labor force? – Washington Post
The Real Cost of Living: $150,000 Minimum – The Fiscal Times
Only a matter of time before ECB is forced into massive quantitative easing – Telegraph
Why You Can’t Get a Taxi – Atlantic
What America Buys – NPR
Markets:
China relaxes currency peg – Reuters
Apple: 36% Of S&P500 Q1 Earnings – ZeroHedge
Asian Stocks Fall Most in a Week as Metals, Euro Retreat – Bloomberg
Politics:
Euro Area Seeks Bigger IMF War Chest on Spanish Concerns – Bloomberg
Why Germany Should Leave the Euro Zone – Time
Inequality 101: The Picket Fence and the Staircase – The New Yorker
Banks:
Wall Street Has Become `Huge Casino,’ Cohan Says – Bloomberg
Europe’s banks beached as ECB stimulus runs dry – Telegraph
Posted in Economics, Markets, Media, Politics.
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– April 15, 2012
Noteworthy News – April 9, 2012
Economy:
50 Amazing Numbers About Today’s Economy – Motley Fool
MIT Predicts That World Economy Will Collapse By 2030 – Popular Science
The Puzzle of Measuring Poverty – New York Times
Don’t Expect Many New Factory Jobs – New York Times
The End Of Retail – Slate
Markets:
Natural gas producers are being forced to scale back as prices fall, storage caverns fill up – Washington Post
El-Erian: Markets Wake Up to Central Banks’ Complicated Tradeoffs – CNBC
Politics:
Who Loaned Greece the Money? – Demonocracy
Gross: Greece a Zit, Portugal a Boil, Spain a Tumor – Bloomberg
Money: The Great Gold Robbery – Freeman
Posted in Economics, Markets, Media, Politics.
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– April 8, 2012
