“Is $130 oil a bubble?”, CNN, Friday May 23 “The Short View: Commodity Speculation”, John Authers, Financial Times, Tuesday May 20 “Whither The Price of Oil?”, John Mauldin, Frontline Thoughts, Friday May 23 “High Oil Prices Spur Thoughts About Bubbles,…
In the past (Iran) would have put a little bullish impetus in these markets, but it isn’t today. Perhaps it’s telling. – Addison Armstrong (subscription required), Analyst, Tradition Energy The story in financial markets for the last bunch of days has…
I want to recommend to everybody John Mackey’s excellent commencement speech delivered at Bentley College on Saturday May 17, 2008, recently posted to his Whole Foods blog. Mackey, the Founder and CEO of Whole Foods (WFMI), was a college dropout:…
I’ll tell you another area where we’ve been foolin’ ourselves and that’s the belief that inflation is under control. Gross on using owner equivalent rent instead of home prices in calculating the CPI: ….. the first occurring in 1983 with the…
The combination of record high fuel prices and continuing difficulties in the housing sector has further accelerated the shift away from large pickups and SUVs to small and medium-sized cars and crossovers. We saw a real change in the industry…
The trading in the stock market the last few days has been all about oil. And the trading in oil has been all about speculative psychology. Yesterday, spurred by a surprise drawdown in oil inventories reported by the Energy Information…
DataQuick yesterday released April Sales numbers for the Sacramento region and they were somewhat encouraging. The most encouraging number is sales volume which was up 10% for the 8-county region compared to last year. Even though prices are still going…
The housing and home improvement markets remained difficult in the first quarter; in fact, conditions worsened in many areas of the country. – Frank Blake, CEO Home Depot Home Depot (HD) reported another tough quarter before the open this morning:…
The generally poor economic outlook, including well-known housing pressures, rising food and fuel prices and a more negative employment picture eroded consumer confidence and impacted discretionary purchases for the home. – Robert Niblock, CEO Lowe’s Home improvement retailer Lowe’s (LOW)…
Troubling all around, lower confidence and ongoing inflation worries. – Ian Lyngen, Interest Rate Strategist, RBS Greenwich Capital This morning the Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey fell to 59.5 – down from 62.6 in April and its lowest level…