The completely unexpected decision of the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to remove the 1.20 floor on the Swiss franc against the euro on Thursday was one of the biggest currency shocks since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971. The decision has been heavily criticised, both for its tactical handling …
Category: Finance
Are Fund Managers Too Optimistic About Europe?
Following the promise of monetary stimulus from the ECB last month, fund managers are overwhelmingly more bullish on Europe.
The Economist explains: Why Germany and Greece are at odds
ON FEBRUARY 20th the "Eurogroup"—the finance ministers of the 19 countries that use the euro—will meet in Brussels for the third time in ten days to try to find a way out of the Greek crisis. The mood is poisonous: on February 19th Germany unexpectedly rejected a proposal by…
6 Strategies for Managing a Fast Growing Company
Growth is the goal of every startup but when it comes, it brings its own challenges.
EUR/JPY, EUR/USD Losing Uptrends from January Lows
Caution, however: the technicals aren’t exaclty clean, thanks to the lingering impact of Greece-related headlines.
Gold Stalling at 1200 Figure, SPX 500 Stalling at Record High
Gold prices are digesting losses near the $1200/oz figure while the SPX 500 is waiting for direction cues after hitting a record high.
Precious Metal on the Rise After FOMC
Precious metals were on ;the ;rise today after the ;Federal Open Market Committee released minutes of ;its latest monetary policy meeting. The ;minutes revealed …
Yanis Varoufakis on fiscal waterboarding and Ponzi austerity
Yanis Varoufakis had a long interview on RT’s Boom Bust yesterday going into detail behind his political candidacy and what he expects SYRIZA to do regarding the unsustainable debt burden that the Greek government now has. Overall, despite his problems with the eurozone’s institutional structure, Yanis believes Greece leaving the …
27-year-old Seattle man says women fly across the country to be with him because he’s a real-life ‘Christian Grey’
Brayden Olson, a 27-year-old Seattle-based entrepreneur, says tons of women have reached out to him because they think he is the “real-life” Christian Grey, the fictional male character in “Fifty Shades of Grey.” A hugely popular erotic novel, “Fifty Shades of Grey” follows the BDSM relationship …
Shocking incentive failure rate in North Carolina
@sandymaxey points me to a new report from the North Carolina Justice Center that is making my head spin. Picking Losers shows that the state’s flagship development program, the Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG), has seen 62 of its 102 projects fail in the period from its inception in 2002 until 2013. That …
Euro Region Economy Strengthens Amid Wrangling on Greece – Bloomberg
euronewsEuro Region Economy Strengthens Amid Wrangling on GreeceBloombergThe DAX index curve is seen on an electronic column at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Frankfurt, Germany. Photographer: Hannelore Foerster/Bloomberg. Recommended. Varoufakis Meets Euro Partners as Greece Seeks to Avoid Default · Day Two Of The …Eurozone Economy Gains Momentum, Survey …
We won’t include family home in assets pension test: Scott Morrison
But the Minister for Social Services is concerned the current system penalises pensioners who sell their homes, a point which Labor says lacks evidence. Social Services Minister Scott Morrison says the government wants to make it easier for older people to sell their homes for income in retirement but has …
Chart: Vanguard Low-Cost Philosophy At Work
The debate between active and passive investing has come full circle. We’ve officially gone from “index funds will never work!” to “index funds are working too well, it can’t keep on going”. Check out the Forbes article Is Vanguard Too Successful? Passive vs. active is …
New Trade: Long TripAdvisor ($TRIP) & Short Pandora ($P)
The last few days were not as great with Travelzoo (one of my short positions) rising a bit but the 6.27{04524d497bea0ade6defd1388b5c9b25998d95475e2938b4fa9d615e63ad1540} return so far this year remains very solid. Today I’m opening a new trade between 2 stocks trading at comparable levels but that I have extremely different longer term …
Weekly Crude Oil and Gold Recap with Mike Seery
It’s time for our weekly commodity futures recap with our trading partner Mike Seery. He has been Senior Analyst for close to 15 years and has extensive knowledge of all of the commodity and option markets. And frequently appears on multiple business networks including Bloomberg news, Fox Business, CNBC Worldwide, CNN …
Key ETF Performance Through President’s Day 2015
Below is a look at the performance of various asset classes through President’s Day 2015 using key ETFs from our daily ETF Trends report available to Bespoke Premium members. For each ETF, we show its performance last week, so far in February, and so far in 2015. US-related ETFs are generally …
Priceline comes down to reality
The stock has come 20{04524d497bea0ade6defd1388b5c9b25998d95475e2938b4fa9d615e63ad1540} from its high. Now that Priceline (PCLN) shares are closer to $1,000 its got me interested. Expedia (EXPE) took a hit this week after disappointing the street, that’s fine, all I care about is Priceline. If you are thinking about investing in the online travel…
Five Tax Breaks for Parents
Chances are, your kid can help with your taxes: The deductions and credits available to parents can really add up. There’s a lot to be said about having children; they’re a joy, they’re a handful — and they’re expensive. How expensive depends upon where you live …