inflation

On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged and reiterated that interest rates would remain low for “an extended period”. In its statement, it also mentioned that inflation remains subdued, and that the weak employment situation seems to have stabilized.

Thanks to an unprecedented concentration of wealth, the World’s supply of Billionaires jumped 27% in 2009 and the 1,011 people in the club accumulated an AVERAGE of $500M more Dollars EACH! Isn’t that great? That’s $505Bn or 65% of America’s TARP spending handed over to 1,011 people who are, according to Forbes (The Capitalist’s Tool), clearly better than us.

A year ago this week the stock market hit its nefarious 666 level on the S&P 500. Since that historic day, we have enjoyed a 68% appreciation in equities from their depressionary low. Not only has the bounce caused a chorus of perma-bulls to claim the worst of the recession is behind us, but also to declare that the bull market is here to stay.

Shares fell on Friday as investors became cautious about their positions due to instability in the European Union about Spain, Portugal and Greeece. Jim Wood-Smith, head of research at Williams de Broe, said: "It is all about Greece, Spain and Portugal. The market is worried about whether the peripheral states in Europe are going to have a contagion effect on the whole of the euro zone."

The U.S markets were closed yesterday, allowing participants to review their portfolios after Friday’s sell-off. The major indices dropped throughout Friday’s session despite better than expected reports from J.P Morgan and Intel.

The shape of this economic recovery will not be in a “V”, as many pundits have promulgated, but instead may be the inversion of that letter…which will unfortunately look much more like a tepee. The upcoming downfall will surprise most investors who have been tricked into believing that a government can print and spend their way into prosperity.

Stock futures remained lower Friday after a government report that inflation was tamer than expected last month.

Oh look. The devil cries too.

If you can believe it, there are actually some people out there who still think the long end of the yield-curve can go lower. In fact, some people believe it can drop to new records — below those of the 1940s. But that’s just pure, unadulterated, old-fashioned nonsense.

Here are a few reasons why quantitative easing is never going to work, and won’t take us anywhere near historical lows:

It bears remembering that the stock market is forward looking (about 6 months), so if you expect interest rate hikes in the later half of half of 2010, keep a close eye on the exit door when summer comes around.

Description: In response to falling asset prices, governments around the globe created trillions of dollars in stimulus spending and rescue funding. In the U.S. alone, the monetary base grew by a trillion dollars in a matter of months.

The rampant bullishness prevading the stock market is raising alarm bells. Today, we are, at best, peering into a nascent economic recovery but Dow Jones Industrial Average have already crossed 10,000 (about 30% off the all time high of 14,198 in October 2007) when peak euphoria reigns amongst investors. If that is not getting ahead of ourselves, I don’t know what is.

By Nico Isaac

When prices in a financial market go from Sea Level to Outer Space in a relatively brief time, two scenarios are at work -- and they both start with the letters “B-U.”

Inflation is a topic on many investors’ minds as massive government spending plans go into action. While hard economic data has yet to cause investors much concern about the imminent threat of inflation, heightened awareness has triggered an influx in the demand for ETFs that track Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).

Worried about declining value of the dollar? Never fear, this article will tell you what to do! Seriously, these are some good ideas. But like any ideas they need well thought-out execution. Thats where you come in. Good luck.

The article describes dynamics of silver investing & silver ETFs. It ain't just forks & spoons. Personally, I like silver ETFs for the volitility: it makes for high option premiums & opportunities to enter & exit, but still retains some hedge qualities.