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Mario Draghi  There is much discussion on China and the impact of stalling on the global economy, yet the region that really needs to be monitored is Europe and the eurozone.  While China is still growing its economy at a seven- to eight-percent clip and is tops among the G8 countries in the global economy,…

Figures just out for the major hedge funds and their returns through May and YTD show that the majority continue to underperform the S&P 500 (see below) –  And below is a list of the best and worst performing conventional funds YTD.

Guest post from Investment Contrarians   The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis released an interesting report analyzing the underlying fundamentals of why America’s economic growth level still remains quite anemic. The results won’t surprise many people—most American households have rebuilt only a fraction of the wealth lost during the recent recession.  According to the Federal Reserve…

Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement, and with it the gold standard, monetary policy has changed dramatically. Instead of observing the money supply changing as a function of economic conditions, central banks now control it directly with the help of conventional tools as interest rates, and also unconventional tools as quantitative easing. The…

Guest post from Investment Contrarians   The debates continue on whether the Federal Reserve should or should not begin to take its foot off the money-printing pedal. We will likely find out on June 14, which is when the Fed meets.  I know those seeking income from bonds want higher yields because it’s hard to survive when…

Guest post from Investment Contrarians   Recently, I’ve issued several warnings in these pages for investors who are heavily involved in fixed-income assets. As I’ve mentioned over the past couple of months, I think the worst investment for investors to make is to put a lot of money into long-term Treasury bonds and notes.  This is because…

At a time when US stock markets continue to trade at elevated levels as a consequence of “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke’s ZIRP & QE policies, one man, the popular writer of the Gloom Boom & Doom newsletter – Marc Faber is a contrarian bear on US equities and, like us, prefers fishing in Europe, emerging markets…

As I have mentioned before, I knowingly allow myself to receive a lot of junk mail from the financial services industry, if only to keep an eye on their “cutting edge” marketing wheezes. The latest I received in the last few days was “how will you be positioning yourself for the Non Farm Payrolls?” The…

The past few months have been difficult for the gold investor as selling pressure in the gold futures market has set a decidedly negative direction for the price of the yellow metal. As fundamental investors, we always pay special attention to the supply and demand dynamics of gold and, recently, we have found it very…