A couple weeks ago DataQuick, the excellent real estate information firm providing data primarily for the California market, came out with its July 2006 numbers. The Sacramento Bee ran a sobering article based on the report: July … saw the biggest drop…
Stephen Roach, Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley, had some noteworthy things to say about the bursting of the housing bubble and its effects on the US and global economies in his most recent two commentaries at Morgan Stanley’s Global Economic…
After the bell on Wednesday women’s retailer Chico’s FAS (NYSE: CHS) warned that August same store sales are showing a decline of about 3% and that it sees dismal same store sales for its third quarter, according to the Wall…
The Wall Street Journal today published an editorial, “The House the Fed Built” (subscription required), echoing the interpretation of recent Fed history I posted a couple weeks ago: This is the housing market the Federal Reserve built. That is to say,…
The Wall Street Journal ran a noteworthy article on Monday (subscription required) citing evidence that middle income consumers are slowing down their spending in the face of high gas prices and a slowing housing market: … Ms. Liebmann [president of…
Marketwatch recently ran an article on signs that your financial advisor is no good. Here are some of their signs I found particulary important: 2. Refuses to disclose free arrangements Some advisers are squarely focused on investments that make the…
Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFMI), a stock I recommended 2 weeks ago, got a favorable write up in this weekend’s Barron’s (subscription required). Barron’s is widely read among professional investors who frequently buy up large quantities of the stocks recommended by…
After 17 straight quarter point rate hikes going back to June 2004 the Fed paused on Tuesday leaving the federal funds rate at 5.25% (from 1% back in June of 2004). In this post I want to try and explain…
Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) today reported 4th quarter and fiscal year 2006 results that were positively received by Wall Street. The shares jumped $2.49 to $19.78, a more than 14% increase, as 221.6 million shares, 3.64% of the company, traded…
Forbes recently ran an article worth reading: “Ten Ways Brokers Pick Pockets”: Arbitration is how disgruntled investors usually have to bring their complaints against brokers. In 2005, 6,074 cases were filed, the majority of which dealt with breach of fiduciary…