All week on the show we’ve been talking about strategic cornerstones for 2012. We’ve looked at gold and real estate pretty extensively, and I hope to get to grains and softs next week. Today, we talked quite a bit about oil. As I see it, one of the big surprises in the evolution of the [...]

Folks, it’s a happy Wednesday indeed when everything once again opens up in the green. This little rally we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks is really creeping up on people. What’s behind the rush to risk? As I see it, it’s two things. The first is Europe, where there’s finally a perception that [...]

Folks, today is the first day of both the last week of the month and the last week of the 3rd quarter. In addition to the normal end-of-month activity, a great deal of OTC options and listed options activity comes due and goes off on Friday—it’s almost like a second expiration. The action and volatility [...]

Well, folks, yesterday we got a one-two punch. First, my fellow Chicagoan went in front of the United Nations and, in my opinion, missed a tremendous opportunity to voice opposition to Palestinian UN membership. His weakness and lack of confidence permeated the financial world, especially in Europe, where the selloff began to escalate. Then, there [...]

Folks, today is quadruple expiration, the day where contracts for stock futures, index futures and options expire. I’ve been talking all week on the show about how, in addition to what’s happening in Europe, this expiration phenomenon also has an impact. So, why is it important? There are literally hundreds of billions of dollars sitting [...]

Folks, yesterday the Fed came out and basically said they’re going to keep interest rates pegged for the next couple of years. As I predicted on yesterday’s show, they aren’t calling this “quantitative easing” per se, but that’s exactly what it is. So I’ve decided give it a name for them: QE Incognito, or QEI [...]

Folks, there are a number of situations that are creating chaos in the market right now, and it’s creating a very unique environment and experience for those of us who are exposed. What should investors and traders pay attention to when the market is in a chaotic condition like this? First, it’s important to remember [...]

Folks, back when I was studying at Loyola University, I had an economics professor ask me a question: In terms of capital preservation, what were the three safest treasury securities to invest in back in 1900? I lobbed a couple of educated guesses at him: England and France. He informed me that at the time, [...]

Folks, looking at the market today, I see some good news and some bad news. Which do you want first? Let’s start with the bad news—that way, we can end on a positive note going into the weekend. Sound ok? The Bad News: European Debt Crisis This debt problem in Europe continues to be an [...]

Folks, the European contagion issue seems to have settled down on news that the European Central Bank will hold an emergency summit on Friday. Is this contagion issue over? Absolutely not. But Friday’s meeting might help to quell the panic in the French institutions. The French are the largest holders of Italian bonds, which means [...]