Monthly Archives: May 2007

The US Economy:  First quarter growth was the weakest in 4 years at  just .015% for Q1.  Comparing this to 5.6% growth of Q1 2006 even extreme optimists must acknowledge that the economy was slowing significantly heading into the second quarter. A jump … Continue reading →

The May 9 FOMC meeting minutes released today confirm that the housing sector is slowing more than the US Federal Reserve had previously anticipated:  See Bloomberg: Fed sees housing dampening growth longer than expected (update 3): “The correction of the housing sector was … Continue reading →

The Wall Street Journal ran a story May 29 on present sentiment in the private equity space.  Private Equity:  Is deal frenzy nearing end? quotes several principles of large private equity firms sounding caution.  Timothy Collins, CEO of Ripplewood Holdings LLC calls the current … Continue reading →

Today brought us the next installment of the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index showing continued year over year price declines to the end of March 2007.  The Spring housing market is apparently not firming up this year in major cities around the US.  … Continue reading →

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A recently published study from the American Bankruptcy Institute shows that filing rates for Americans over 45 are increasing larger than any other category of bankruptcy petitioners.  With the fastest growing segment of filers coming in the over 55 category.  … Continue reading →

“At a time like this, who can lose money?”… Quoted from a 60-year old cleaning woman in the southwestern city of Chongqing, China. Lauded in the media as a market wizard after doubling her 20,000 yuan (US$2,600) investment in two months (Chongqing Morning … Continue reading →

It has always been the promise and hype of the investment sales world that people get rich by buying equity investments.  A new study by The Harrison Group finds that of the 930 million Americans who have more than $5 million … Continue reading →

A Bloomberg article yesterday:  Credit Bubble May be Bursting quotes credit analysts sounding concern about the effects of over zealous leverage and its resulting risk in world capital markets at present: “We are growing extremely negative on credit markets, which we … Continue reading →

Weedon & Co. L.P. reprinted a very articulate interview with money manager John Hussman recently called Going Full Cycle.  The Husman Strategic Growth Fund has trounced the returns and particularly risk-adjusted returns of the S&P 500 over the past 7 years, … Continue reading →

Government pensions are indexed yearly in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).  So naturally it should not be surprising to learn that governments have a vested interest in keeping CPI as low as possible year over year.  It was … Continue reading →

Surprise, surprise, A New Wave of Insider Trading is sweeping the world.   The recent spike in the volume of take-over bids is encouraging waves of brazen insider action, and the regulators are scampering to catch up.  Some high-profile professionals — … Continue reading →

A recent article in the National Geographic showed photos of elephants with their most valuable human commodity-their tusks-cut off and their carcasses left to rot in the sun.  The picutres bring to mind the recent LBO mania.  Greedy packs have … Continue reading →

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