Monthly Archives: January 2012

S&P500 Up 4.36% in January

Posted on January 31, 2012 by

Interesting couple of charts on the S&P500.  The top shows the narrowing upward channel in which the index has traded since the beginning of the year relative to the wider medium-term channel.  The collapse in volatility was the direct result … Continue reading →

Posted in Equities, Global Stock Performance | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Annualized Cost of 30-Second Super Bowl Ad > German GDP

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

The average cost for a 30-second ad during Sunday’s Super Bowl will be $3.5 million, with some slots costing as much as $4 million.   That’s a rate of $7 M per minute; $420 M per hour; $10.1 B per day; … Continue reading →

Posted in General Interest | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Capitano Crunch: Europe’s Collapsing Monetary Aggregates

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Here are some great pictures from Credit Suisse illustrating what’s happening in the European monetary sector.  The monetary aggregates have been collapsing at a greater pace than 2008/09  as banks have been cutting credit and shrinking their balance sheets to … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Credit, Euro, Monetary Policy, Policy, Sovereign Risk, State and Local Government | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Germany’s fiscal solidarity plan for EU approved

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Domestic political blowback to follow.  Stay tuned. (click here if video is not observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Euro, Eurozone Sovereign Spreads, PIIGS, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Where Are the Labor Unions? The Public Sector….

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

Excellent chart from the BLS on the union affiliation of U.S. wage and salary workers. We’ve noted the differences between public vs. private sector unions in prior posts.   Here is the WSJ cited in one of those posts, …unlike in … Continue reading →

Posted in Apple, Demographics, Employment | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Global Markets: One Large Complex Adaptive System

Posted on January 30, 2012 by

We once read somewhere that there are 10 to the 180th power possible paths to checkmate in a game of chess.   Similarly,  the global markets are one large complex adaptive system and almost impossible to project their short-term macro … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Dollar, Euro, Eurozone Sovereign Spreads, German Bund, Global Stock Performance | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Sovereign Debt Hygienics

Posted on January 29, 2012 by

Interesting calculations posted by Spiegel from the Kiel Institute on the sovereign haircuts which would make the debt of the listed countries sustainable.   We would love to see the calculations for the U.S., U.K., and Japan. (click here if charts … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Euro, Italian Yields, PIIGS, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Week in Review: Still Overbought & Nattie’s Big Bounce

Posted on January 29, 2012 by

(click here if charts are not observable)

Posted in Week in Review | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Clash of Generations: A Discussion in Davos

Posted on January 29, 2012 by

We’ve posted several pieces on the coming war between the generations and even how the Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring are more about intergenerational equity than anything else.   Here’s an interesting discussion from Davos for those who have … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Demographics, Employment | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Global Trend Indicators

Posted on January 29, 2012 by

(click here if tables are not observable)

Posted in Global Trend Indicators | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment