Finance Trends Letter

We're going to start off this week with a recent clip of Marc Faber on CNBC (Thanks to reader Domenico for the heads up on this video). You'll hear everything straight from Marc for yourself, but let me just briefly outlilne some of the main points he made to CNBC in this interview from last week. 1. Investors should stop listening to the Fed. They are misleading the people with claims of strong dollar policies and their worry over inflation. Their actions have shown the opposite to be true (the Fed is not really concerned about inflation), and ordinary Americans have suffered from the central bank's inflationary policies. Also, Marc notes again that the Fed is trying to pump the financial system full of liquidity, while the private sector is trying to tighten lending standards and credit conditions. For now, the private sector is winning. 2. The Federal Reserve should have let investment banks fail. As Marc says, "If I'm a bad businessman, who's going to hel...

Jukebox video hits for your weekend enjoyment. Rock n' roll. 1. Motley Crue - Live Wire . 2. Sex Pistols - God Save the Queen . 3. Def Leppard - High n' Dry (Saturday Night) . 4. The Runaways - Saturday Night Special . 5. The Ramones - Rock n' Roll High School . 6. The Replacements - Bastards of You ng .

Enjoy our Friday "Features". 1. The Dow sank 358 points on Thursday, closing at its lowest level in almost two years. 2. Oil surges above $140 ; is $150 oil around the corner? 3. Drilling for oil in Beverly Hills . 4. Global oil supply worries fuel debate in Saudi Arabia. 5. Gold moves up to $920 an ounce on dollar weakness, risk aversion. 6. Video: Warren Buffett concerned about stagflation . 7. Uranium prices could rebound due to increased demand. 8. Jim Rogers and Van Eck Global have formed the Rogers Van Eck Hard Assets Producer Index , a comprehensive global commodities share index (Hat tip: Abnormal Returns ). 9. "Danseuse" , the Severini painting highlighted in Wednesday's art market update , ends up fetching £15.04 million, twice its pre-sale estimate. 10. Four years of home price gains wiped out . Case-Shiller home price index is down 15.3% in the past year, shows declines in all 20 cities tracked. 11. Public surveillance grows in America's eme...

The global art boom continues, as wealthy buyers from around the world continue to purchase rare and expensive works of contemporary, impressionist, and modern art. But according to recent reports in the Financial Times and The Economist , buyers now seem favor works by lesser known artists in the impressionist and modern art movements. According to the FT , newly rich buyers will be seeking out bright, bold paintings from German expressionists and Italian futurist painters. ""Two years ago, top lots in the impressionist and modern art sales were familiar brands: the Monets, Picassos and Van Goghs. More recently, bolder, brasher artworks by lesser-known artists have been netting record prices and, this summer, German expressionists and Italian futurists will be among the most sought-after catches. Despite a popular perception that contemporary art sales account for the top prices, the impressionist and modern auctions, which broadly sell art from 1870-1945, are where the se...

Due to the sheer amount of misinformation and flat out nonsense being broadcasted on the subjects of oil and commodity prices and the supposed price manipulation by speculators, it's important to seek out information from more truthful or knowledgeable sources, rather than relying on the suppositions of ignorant politicians and media demagogues. With that in mind, I wanted to share a very fine article with you from today's (June 24) Financial Times. Hopefully, it will help to dispel some of the "evil speculator" myths that are still floating around. In, "Politicians' oil argument is flawed" , John Dizard writes of his surprise over politicians' continued willingness to make dogged attacks on commodity speculators, as traders and index investors are blamed for fueling recent price rises of oil and agricultural commodities. Here, Dizard responds to those who argue that investment demand for commodities (expressed through investor purchases of long posi...

Looking at the US stock market this week, we seem to find ourselves at an inflection point. Will the leading averages turn down and break through their previous lows , or does the market have enough strength to consolidate and head higher? With the recent downturn in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (following its May rally highs), we are now headed right back down to the previous March low. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Transportion Average has been incredibly strong coming off its January lows, setting a record high of 5,492.45 earlier this month. Unfortunately, that move was unconfirmed by the Industrials, which continued to slump from its May high. The DJIA remains well below its record high of 14,164.53, reached back in October. Back in May, noting the confusion over the status of the latest upmove in the Dow Averages, we wondered if this was, in fact, a rally with serious muscle . So far, the Dow Transports have managed to hold out impressively, but the coinciding downward move in ...

What's driving events in this crazy world of ours this week? Join us as we follow the money trail in this Friday's, "Features of the week" . 1. Let's expand domestic spying , and grant telecoms immunity. 2. Midwest floods ruin crops ; higher food prices to come. 3. John Paulson is bearish on UK property, and sees $1.3 trillion in losses for financial companies in the credit crisis. 4. Lieberman makes risky bet in speculation ban bid. See also: Tighter trading laws may be boon to foreign exchanges . 5. Wilbur Ross speaks to Bloomberg about MBIA and Ambac, and says they are unlikely to regain their AAA ratings . 6. Your tax bill : how McCain, Obama differ. 7. Troubled Waters: Barron's 2008 Midyear Roundtable . 8. What recession? Shoplifting to make ends meet . 9. The Confidence Man . NY Mag profiles hedge fund manager David Einhorn, he of short Lehman Brothers fame (Hat tip to The Kirk Report ). 10. Death of America's suburbs is greatly exaggerated . 11....