By: Daryl Montgomery

While the EU is still reeling from S&P’s downgrade of the sovereign debt of nine of its members on January 13th and the latest talks to keep Greece afloat have hit a wall, there is an even bigger problem with the effectiveness of its stimulus programs — the money is just not finding its way into the economy.

Global markets were jubilant in December when the ECB (European Central Bank) pumped 490 billion ...

By: Daryl Montgomery

There has much cheerleading in the mainstream press lately about the improving employment situation and strong 2011 holiday retail sales. Just released figures indicate it may have been much ado about nothing.

Retailers depend on the holiday season for their yearly profits. Major efforts were made in November to get people to start buying early. This worked and retail sales were up 0.4% during the month. Strong early numbers don’t necessarily mean overall numbers ...

By: Tanya Palta

The pen is indeed mightier than the sword and a Montblanc pen may just be the mightiest. A true ambassador of class and luxury, Montblanc writing instruments are world-renowned and since long been associated with quality and prestige. The writing instruments have known to raise the bar of aspirations among its patrons and immortalize elegance, expertise and experience. No other brand enjoys the kind of reverence that Montblanc enjoys and it is no surprise ...

By: Daryl Montgomery

The Employment Report for December 2011 was released today with a glowing press release from the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics). The highlight of the report was the 42,000 courier and messengers jobs created last month and the claim that the unemployment rate fell to 8.5%

Statistics can easily be manipulated and it is not unknown for political regimes to do so in order to hold on to power (and 2012 is an ...

By: Daryl Montgomery

Since the 2008 Credit Crisis, deflation has been the primary worry of mainstream economists and monetary and fiscal policies that utilize various forms of “money printing” have been implemented throughout the world to try to stop it. Unfortunately, money printing combined with deflation can potentially lead to hyperinflation.

Hyperinflation is a little understood and little studied phenomenon. Even inflation itself is only partially understood and traditional university economic programs devote minimal attention to ...

By: Daryl Montgomery

As 2012 begins, markets are rallying as they did at the beginning of 2011 — a year when the S&P 500 closed flat after many huge moves up and down. The problems in Europe that rattled markets in 2011 have not been resolved and new problems are or will be emerging in China and Japan. At the very least, investors should expect another rocky ride in the upcoming year.

The debt crisis in the EU ...

By: Daryl Montgomery

While gold and silver are in long-term secular bull markets, they have experienced price weakness in the last few months of 2011. The technical picture indicates that they are likely to remain pressured for a while longer before recovering in 2012.

GLD (the major ETF for gold)  fell below its 200-day simple moving average earlier in December and at the time, I pointed out in a previous article that this indicated lower prices in ...

By: Daryl Montgomery

Housing stats for November were released today, December 20th, and the stock market rallied strongly on the supposedly “good” news. The statistical error rate in the housing report is so huge, that the numbers are meaningless — and easily subject to manipulation by a government that is desperate to provide news of a recovering economy.

Housing starts peaked at 2,273,000 in January 2006. According to the Commerce Department, construction of new U.S. residences ...