Wolf Richter

But Wait … The PC Industry Hopes That It Hasn’t Lost Hope Yet

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Signs of the entire industry in a heap of trouble are everywhere. Rumors just bubbled up that Dell would axe 25% of its global sales staff – over 9,000 souls. HP is sacking 34,000. PC shipments, including laptops, have been awful for three years in a row.

Lousy Jobs Data: Five Years Of QE Fail, Yet Fig Leaf For Taper

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Today’s employment report is special. Exactly five years ago, the Fed kicked off its zero interest rate policy and QE to create the “wealth effect”: the elite would borrow for free and buy assets to drive up asset prices and make those people immensely rich; in return, they’d spend some crumbs of this new wealth, which would create jobs, say, at luxury retailers.

China CLOBBERS The US In Auto Sales, Becomes GM’s Nirvana (Unless You Have To Breathe)

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The air in China can get so bad that the whole world talks about it. Though the government is taking the issue seriously and is doing a million things to get the fiasco under control, it remains unclear what exactly people will breathe ten years from now.

Plagued By Indigestion, Fed Issues Asset-Bubble Warning

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Hidden in the middle of the 25-page minutes of the last meeting, under the most wooden and convoluted prose, the Fed issued a doozie of a warning: it fretted about financial stability. It named soaring forward P/E ratios, stock buybacks, margin credit, and leveraged loans.

The Piranha of Portugal: Greatest Counterfeiter Ever (Or: Any Difference Between Keynesianism And Counterfeiting?)

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Bryan Taylor, Ph.D., Chief Economist, Global Financial Data: The new US $100 bill is out, as you may have seen this holiday season. Our dear old Uncle Ben is a technological wonder with a dozen different anti-counterfeiting devices on it. Since there are more $100 bills circulating outside of the United States than inside, the…

Corporate Earnings Goofiness Goes Hog Wild

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Corporate earnings season has been a doozy before it even got started. The well-scripted song and dance, designed to pull a bag over investors’ heads, works marvelously: stalled revenues and earnings propel stocks higher. But the shenanigans are bumping into limits.

The Most Despised Tax-And-Retreat French President Has ANOTHER Plan

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President Hollande has a solution to France’s economic quagmire, with odds like a lottery. He’d launch a “responsibility pact” – one of his many phrases to haunt him later. It would be a radical shift. When you come to the end of your bumpy road, veer to the right.

Bernanke’s Delirious Praise For His Handiwork, The Concentration Of Power At the Top Banks

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Bernanke wanted to reflect on the “accomplishments of the past eight years,” demolish the “sceptics” that still doubted the Fed was the best thing since sliced bread, and pat himself on the back. His policies “have helped promote the recovery,” he said. The “recovery” of what?

Plug Power, “Exhibit A” Why Most Hot IPOs Suck Long Term

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Plug Power soared 68.4% in the first two trading days this year. Not because it got a buyout offer but because it made another one of its promising announcements. The stock is up by a factor of seven since July to close at … $2.61. Down from $1,500 in March 2000.