Month

“I’d be staggered if there weren’t an all-mighty crash at some point,” admitted the Chief Global Strategist, one of Wall Street’s finest, a curious-minded fella, my favorite kind. “But for now, the world’s split between rotational optimists and speculative pessimists – of course both are bullish.” The government has no money, consumers have no dough, but corporations have hoarded more cash than at any time in recorde

Hope all goes well… “When will grandpa die daddy?” asked Charlie, my four year old, prying an oversized spoonful of cocoa puffs into his little mouth. So I told him I don’t know. “Well, when will grandma die?” he continued, munching away. Of course I don’t know that either. “How about you,” he asked, “when will you die?” I peered into my bowl, at the remaining cocoa puffs, swirling. And reluctantly came clean, admitt

Merkel went mental. Can you blame her? She grew up East of the Iron Curtain, under the loving stare of the Stasi. Of course, if you’d believe a community organizer from Chicago’s suburbs can outfox Angie, well, I got an Obamacare.com login to sell you. Nope, Merkel’s turning purple over the fact that Snowden sprung another leak, and now that our spying policy is clear for all to see, she can’t reliably send misinform

Hope all goes well… “Have you met anyone who doesn’t think stocks will rip into year-end?” asked the CIO, rhetorically, pausing to garner the courage to continue. “And yet despite that, I tend to agree,” he admitted, uncomfortably, squirming atop a prodigious pile of Pounds. You see he’s a Brit, and as such, is imbued with an extra helping of cynicism, skepticism. “This has that feel of the 3rd quarter of 1999, when

We’re saved! So Americans got back to work. While DC indulged itself in idiocy. According to statistically-insignificant partisan-sponsored samplings of eligible voters, all sorts of contradictory outcomes unfolded. Transgender Latino single-mothers of Irish descent – responding to pollsters while waiting for Obamacare’s website to reboot – expressed an overwhelmingly favorable impression of the President

“That was exactly the right time to have bought,” said the CIO, gazing down from the top of his tower, upon armies of ants. “The FT article marked the turning point, and ever since, correlation has been in free fall.” He buys and sells stocks. Looks for interesting special situations too. Managing one of Asia’s top hedge funds. But when stocks all rise and fall in unison, it frustrates even the smartest fellas. Follo

Hope all goes well… “In a world of zero rates virtually everywhere, currency movements are random,” explained my big ’ole Greenwich Bulldog, lifting his leg, drenching that fire hydrant. “And new commodity supply keeps coming online, so those markets are going nowhere but sideways to down,” he snorted. “Bonds are now stuck in a range, odds are the bulls can pick up a few pennies, but risk getting steam-rolled,”

“The American people should realize that their politicians play with their destinies as well as the destinies of other oppressed nations for the sake of their personal vested interests,” announced the Taliban. Which finally gave Democrats and Republicans something to agree on. What’s that? Well, the only thing more humiliating than Putin mediating our international disputes, is a lip lashing from self-rig

“Hedge funds don’t have the balls because investors don’t have the balls,” answered the CIO, one of Europe’s top allocators. You see, I’d asked why he thought hedge fund returns have generally sucked ever since 2008. “15 years ago we invested for 5yrs and said ‘go for it,’ but now we say ‘you have 5yrs but we’re going to check on you every 3 days,’” he continued, laughing at himself and his brethren. Back in 2001-02

They expelled three US diplomats. From Caracas. For sabotaging the economy. As if Venezuela didn’t have enough problems. Their stock market fell 2.9%. And in poor Brazil, Moody’s first downgraded the nation, then Petrobas. As that state-owned oil company encounters weak demand by foreign bidders for over-hyped off-shore drilling rights. Eike Batista, saboteur extraordinaire, dyed his wig a darker shade of grey, snuck