Folks, when you really boil it down, the question that’s been at the center of this whole European situation has always been pretty simple: How can you be a monetary union without being a fiscal union? And the answer is equally simple: you can’t be. If you share a currency, you have to share other [...]

I ran across a great article on Bloomberg this morning about the relationship between U.S. equities and the Euro. Turns out that the correlation is pretty strong, and has increased substantially this year. According to their numbers, the Dow and the Euro moved in the same direction 72% of the time in 2011, compared with [...]

Folks, there is global selloff taking place, and I have to tell you, this one caught me by surprise. I’m usually the one waiting for that thing that comes out of left field, but I definitely didn’t expect this. Right now, it’s looking like all bets might be off for that year-end melt-up scenario I’ve [...]

Folks, the bottoming-out process is messy. It’s ugly. And it can be very painful. For Exhibit A, take a look at what we’re going through right now. But if you’re a long-term investor with strong nerves who can be cerebral in times where emotion has clearly taken over, these are the times that can end [...]

Folks, every earthquake is followed by aftershocks, and we are definitely experiencing one this morning. News about a German bank having trouble paying off its counterparty risk has caused the European markets to shoot all the suspects. Big financial institutions in Germany, France and throughout the Eurozone are getting clobbered, which has in turn driven [...]

Folks, everyone on business TV has been going on and on about how the deficit and the debt-ceiling story are behind this 7-day losing streak for equities. I’m here to tell you that they’re absolutely wrong. This weakness is not tied to the debt-ceiling indecision. How do I know that? Because of what’s going on [...]

Folks, the earnings reports keep coming in and corporations keep on beating the Street. GE, Chrysler, Xerox, Verizon and McDonalds are just a few of the companies that topped estimates, much to the delight of the market. Caterpillar missed by a just a little, but by and large, corporations are reporting very good profits. While [...]

Folks, this is a big time for earnings—130 of the S&P 500 companies report before the end of the week. These reports coincide with a debt-ceiling debate here at home and a situation where European banks are playing havoc with pricing. Let’s distill this, shall we? What’s happening in Europe right now all comes down [...]

Folks, the chatter all weekend long was about the release of stress tests of European banks late last Friday. When we look at this news and the ongoing European debt crisis, it’s important to remember that the Eurozone itself is an experiment. There’s a part of the story that’s not being told. It’s easy to [...]

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 [...]