Morning Reading – Wednesday, March 9, 2011 – Charlie Sheen Edition
Bloomberg: Charlie Sheen Could Teach Wall Street a Lesson: Matthew Lynn
It would take most of us a few dozen lifetimes to amass 2 million followers on Twitter. And yet Charlie Sheen managed it in less than a week.
Climateer Investing: Charlie Sheen Calls on CFTC For Lower Silver Position Limits (JPM)
I kid you not.
No word on Mr. Sheen’s short position in the big bullion bank.
FT Alphaville: Where is Charlie Sheen’s CFTC comment?
According to the latter the actor Charlie Sheen — or at least someone calling himself Charlie Sheen –submitted in March a meticulously worded comment to the CFTC on the subject of silver market position limits.
Kid Dynamite’s World: On Misinterpreting PSLV’s Premium
OK, I can’t take it anymore. Repeat after me: PSLV’s 20% premium to NAV is NOT an indication of supply shortages in the silver market. PSLV’s 20% premium is NOT an indication of the true cost of “physical” silver. Seriously, folks, use your heads.
Macro Man: Equities: “Bi-Winning” but for how long?
TMM have recently been bemused by the strength of equities and industrial metals in the face of some pretty dire developments in the Middle East and amused by the antics of Charlie Sheen. On the face of it, they do look rather similar in some respects: both hopped up and energized on forces known (QE and being able to date two women in their early 20s) and unknown (how China maintains an entirely investment driven economy and for Mr Sheen’s secret ingredient check TMZ).
FT Alphaville: Back to the future with Europe’s stress tests
According to Handelsblatt, two scenarios will be applied by the newly-formed European Banking Authority (EBA) to the banks. Firstly a baseline scenario that reflects the European Commissions forecasts for growth and inflation. Secondly, a ‘stressed’ scenario that has eurozone growth falling 0.5 per cent in 2011 and 0.2 per cent in 2012. Property prices will fall too, but we don’t know by how much.
FT Alphaville: More on Japan’s odd metamorphosis…
CLSA strategist Christopher Wood — who has on occasion been a harsh Japan critic — has adjusted his recommended portfolio to change dollar risk for yen risk.
In a ‘flash’ note to clients he says he has initiated a 10 per cent weighting in Tokyo physical real estate, both commercial and residential, and a 5 per cent weighting in his long-only Japanese equity portfolio — to be paid for, he adds, by removing the weighting in the 30-year US Treasury bond.
FT Alphaville: Iceland vs Greece
Iceland, the theory goes, declared a swift bankruptcy and devalued the krona. Ireland, locked into the eurozone union, has been unable to do the same.
That was Iceland vs Ireland.
Ludwig von Mises Institute: Oil Shock=More Fed Shock
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart told a group at that National Association of Business Economics in Arlington, Va. that if the price of oil keeps climbing, the Fed will need to purchase more assets, or QE3.
Of course the men at the Fed don’t believe all of this new liquidity they are creating has anything to do with the prices of oil or food. Oil over a $100 a barrel is an external shock you see. A bolt of lightening out of nowhere. Those crazy kids in Cairo twittering and whatnot.
Zero Hedge: European Gasoline Hits All Time Record Of $8.632 Per Gallon
And Americans are complaining at an average gas price in the mid $3 range. In Europe, gasoline has just hit an all time record of $8.632 per gallon!