Daily chart: The agony of Greece

GREEK voters want to stay in the euro. They have also elected a government that has made a Greek exit, or “Grexit”, seem much more likely. Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, said on February 10th that if Greece’s new Syriza-led government did not seek an extension of its bail-…

Tax Anticipation Notes: A Timely Alternative Financing Instrument for Greece

The recent election of an explicitly anti-austerity party in Greece has upset the prevailing policy consensus in the eurozone, and raised a number of issues that have remained ignored or suppressed in policy circles. Expansionary fiscal consolidations have proven largely elusive. The difficulty of achieving GDP growth while reaching …

Here comes Empire State manufacturing … (DIA, SPX, SPY, QQQ, IWM)

The February report on Empire State manufacturing from the New York Federal Reserve is set for release at 8:30 am ET. Expectations are for the report to come in at 8.00, down from 9.95 in January. January’s report was a big bounce back after the reading unexpectedly turned negative in December. We’ll be …

Third Way trade agreements study leaves out a lot

Third Way (h/t TPM), a Democratic pro-trade think tank, has released a new study, “Are Modern Trade Deals Working?” It examines the various “free trade” deals the U.S. has signed since 2000 to conclude that 13 of 17 have led to an improvement in our goods (not …

Profit doubles at newcomer bank Aldermore – BBC News

BBC NewsProfit doubles at newcomer bank AldermoreBBC NewsProfit at the British bank Aldermore more than doubled in 2014, as it picked up customers from bigger rivals. Pre-tax profit rose to £56m at the bank, which was set up in 2009 by former Barclays executive Philip Monk. Mr Monk described it …

End of the Year Summary – 2014

2014 was yet another great year to be an investor.  In a year that never saw a full 10{04524d497bea0ade6defd1388b5c9b25998d95475e2938b4fa9d615e63ad1540} correction (but came very close once), investors didn’t have to try hard to have a good return for the year.  At 43 years old (maybe half of the way through my working…

DA to seek death penalty in Las Vegas couple slaying case

A judge set trial in October 2016 for Robert Dixon Dunn on murder, robbery and theft charges in the slaying of Joaquin Sierra and Eleanor Sierra. Prosecutor David Stanton says Dunn kept drawing benefit checks totaling $200,000 or more from the Sierras after they were last seen in February 2003.

Costco No Longer Accepting American Express in 2016

Starting in early 2016, you will no longer need an American Express card to pay with a credit card at Costco. Not earth-shattering news (although I do buy a lot of stuff at Costco), but as a credit card geek I thought some of the details that came out were …

Wall Street Double Talk and Double Opportunity of Falling Oil Price

By Tony SagamiThe stock market has developed a new type of love-hate relationship with the price of oil. In the past, falling oil prices were treated as an economic positive because they freed up more money for Americans to spend on other things, such as dining out or clothing. …

Adding A Stock To My Tech Stock Dashboard ($BOX)

Today, I’m adding the first of several stocks to the list of stocks that I follow; Box Inc. (BOX) For those of you who are new to the blog, you might know that one of the main things I blog about are my long & short tech stocks. It’…

S&P 500 Approaching New Highs

After another rally today, the S&P 500 is now just 5 points below its prior all-time highs reached at the end of December. As shown below, the index and six of ten sectors are now in overbought territory, with Consumer Discretionary leading the way higher. The one sector that has …

Barrons Blessing for AbbVie, Vantiv, Sirius XM

Congrats for those companies. This past weekend the writers of Barrons gave a bullish recommendation for Sirius XM (SIRI), Vantiv (VNTV), and AbbVie (AABV). Mastery expects all three stocks to benefit from the publication. AbbVie will most likely get the biggest bump after falling 2{04524d497bea0ade6defd1388b5c9b25998d95475e2938b4fa9d615e63ad1540} on Friday. AbbVie could use…

Greece suffers 1 billion euro tax revenue shortfall in January

Greece’s tax revenues slumped 23 percent below target in January as citizens held off on paying taxes before a snap election, marking a setback for the new left-wing government as it seeks a deal with European partners to avert a financial crisis. Finance ministry data showed tax revenues were 3.49 billion …

Tax Prep Checklist

Make sure you gather the right documents before diving into your taxes. Photo: C X 2 Even the most knowledgeable tax professional can’t complete your income tax return correctly and quickly without all the information they need. Yet every year, countless people sit down opposite their accountant and answer, “…

What a Disappointment: Dow Gains 100 Points But S&P 500, Nasdaq Gain More

Stocks gained for a second day in a row as a peace deal that no one believes will last was reached in Ukraine, negotiations continued on Greece’s bailout plan, and U.S. economic data disappointed. Bloomberg  The S&P 500 gained 1{04524d497bea0ade6defd1388b5c9b25998d95475e2938b4fa9d615e63ad1540} to 2,088.48 today, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 110.24 …

Asian shares jump on Ukraine ceasefire, Greek hopes

By Hideyuki Sano TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares soared on Friday on news of a ceasefire accord in Ukraine, while Sweden's surprise move to cut its main rate into negative territory and hopes of a resolution between debt-strapped Greece and its creditors burnished risk appetite. MSCI's broadest index …