Skip to main content

Features of the week

The most interesting stories in business and world events are right here. Let's begin!

1. Ocean freight rates (Baltic Exchange Index) hit an all time high, as capacity in dry bulk shipping is outpaced by global demand.

2. Nicholas Vardy at Seeking Alpha asks, "Are We Currently in the Middle of a Commodities Super Cycle?".

3. Bloomberg speaks with global investor Mark Mobius about emerging markets and US and world GDP figures. Thanks to Ivan of At These Levels for his comments on this clip.

4. More on the upcoming launch of uranium futures contracts on the NYMEX from MarketWatch. They pulled together some interesting quotes for this story, and its good to see them speaking with people who have been watching this market closely for the past several years.

5. Financial Times investigates the true state of the carbon trading market and finds "widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases".

6. Biofuels are speeding up deforestation, but the UN is backing an EU plan for mandatory biofuel blending in automotive fuels.

7. Philanthropy steps in where the state failed. This report will come as no surprise to anyone familiar with libertarian philosophy or pre-welfare state history.

8. Entrepreneurs say business conditions are harder. A survey of British entrepreneurs shows dissatisfaction with excessive red tape and poor worker education, key among concerns over future UK competitiveness.

Interestingly, a quarter of the survey respondants seem to think that the government should do something to better the education system. Wasn't it government that gave them the education system and regulations that are currently in place?

9. In praise of entrepreneurs. The Economist reviews a new biography of economist Joseph Schumpeter.

While their review suggests that Schumpeter's work on business cycles "is little read today because the idea at its heart has not stood up to scrutiny", some observers have apparently taken notice of Schumpeter's writing on this subject.

For more, see Dr. Marc Faber's reading list in our link section.

10. Businessweek's Spencer E. Ante on David Halberstam's Last Speech. Audio tape and transcript of Mr. Halberstam's final public speech is available.

11. Reuters: Scientists find most Earth-like planet yet. Unfortunately, a search for intelligent life on the planet has only revealed the existence of a toy-dog-in-purse toting race.

12. Economist special report on credit derivatives.

13. Bloomberg columnist Caroline Baum says, "France's Sarkozy Is No Maggie Thatcher".

14. Hedge funds for the masses? Christian Baha's Superfund Pitch.

15. Gary Dorsch and Ty Andros discuss the rise in China's dollar reserves and the rise of global inflation.

16. Bear Mountain Bull on Dow 13,000.

Read and enjoy, my friends!

Popular posts from this blog

Nasdaq credit rating junked.

S&P cut Nasdaq's credit rating to junk status citing debt burdens and its questionable strategy to buy a controlling interest in the London Stock Exchange. Financial Times reported that the exchange's counterparty credit & bank loan rating were lowered fromm BBB- (lowest investment grade rating) to BB+. The change will increase Nasdaq's borrowing costs should it wish to pursue aquisition targets. For an earlier look at the exchange consolidation trend that brought about Nasdaq's push for a stake in the LSE, please see "Exchange fever" .

Jesse Livermore: How to Trade in Stocks (1940 Ed. E-book)

If you've been around markets for any length of time, you've probably heard of 20th century supertrader, Jesse Livermore . Today we're highlighting his rare 1940 work, How to Trade in Stocks (ebook, pdf). But first, a brief overview of Livermore's life and trading career (bio from Jesse Livermore's Wikipedia entry). "During his lifetime, Livermore gained and lost several multi-million dollar fortunes. Most notably, he was worth $3 million and $100 million after the 1907 and 1929 market crashes, respectively. He subsequently lost both fortunes. Apart from his success as a securities speculator, Livermore left traders a working philosophy for trading securities that emphasizes increasing the size of one's position as it goes in the right direction and cutting losses quickly. Ironically, Livermore sometimes did not follow his rules strictly. He claimed that lack of adherence to his own rules was the main reason for his losses after making his 1907 and...

Finance Trends 2019 Mid-Year Markets Review

Email subscribers of the Finance Trends Newsletter receive the first look at new articles and market updates, such as the following piece, sent out to our email list on Sunday (6/14).   Hello and welcome, everyone! If you received our last email notice over the July 4th holiday, you'll know that this weekend's newsletter will serve as a mid-year market update and a follow-up to issue #29, " How to Reinvest in a Rising Market ".   Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, let's start the show...  Finance Trends Newsletter: Our Mid-Year Market Review When we last spoke, back in February, the U.S. stock market was rallying off its December-January lows. As the S&P 500 and Nasdaq reclaimed their 200 day moving averages in February and March, it became increasingly apparent that a lot of retail investors (and perhaps some institutional investors) were left under-invested while watching this recovery move from the sidelines.  The U.S. stock ...