by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Bernanke’s Delirious Praise For His Handiwork, The Concentration Of Power At the Top Banks
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?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Plug Power, “Exhibit A” Why Most Hot IPOs Suck Long Term
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.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fizzing Optimism For Wild Financial Engineering In 2014
Nothing could have been a more pungent metaphor for the current investment climate than the headline, “Macau gambling revenue hits record $45 bn in 2013.”
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on So This Isn’t Exactly A Rosy Outlook For 2014, Or Something
Central banks rule! We’ve seen it in 2013. They’ve accomplished the impossible: separating stock markets from the economies they’re based on. But in 2014, the US and China are trying to unwind these crazy policies – without taking down the entire global economy.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cracks Forming In Housing Bubble II (But This Time It’s Different)
Number one is Palo Alto, epicenter of Silicon Valley craziness, where home prices are now 40% higher than they were at their prior bubble peak. What are we calling this phenomenon? Bubble? Nope. “Housing recovery.” But the middle class has hit a wall.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on LEAKED Confession: Cesspool Of Greek-German Corruption
Apparently, it has been impossible to sell Greece any weapons at all, not even a water pistol, without bribing officials at the Defense Ministry. But it takes two to tango. And in holier-than-thou Germany, the defense industry has been all too eager to dance with Greece.
by Oilprice.com • • Comments Off on Make No Mistake About It: The Storm Has Hit in Turkey
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, his party (the AKP), and the business elite attached to them have become targets of a focused corruption scandal that he may not survive. It should shake investor confidence to its core.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Next Shoe to Drop in Broke California’s Lopsided ‘Recovery’
If you come to San Francisco or Silicon Valley and look around, you’d think California is booming, that companies jump through hoops to hire people, that they douse them with money, stock options, and free lunches. And some do. But in other parts of the state?
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What Happens Next, Now That The 10-year Treasury Yield Hit The Psycho-Sound Barrier Of 3%
Treasuries have been skidding, and the 10-year yield hit the psycho-sound barrier of 3%. What happened last time this phenomenon occurred? Well, yields bounced off and fell – because the mayhem they’d triggered gave the Fed conniptions and caused it to back off.
