Finance Trends Letter

What's happening in the world of commodities, derivatives, and global stock markets? All this and more, ahead. Enjoy our, "Features of the week" . 1. CRB index suffers its worst monthly drop in 28 years . 2. The Short View: Commodities and inflation . 3. Are we trading against Hank Paulson ? (Hat tip: BMB ) 4. Financial sector has 7 of 10 best days in 2008 . 5. Global stock market performance round-up via Investment Postcards. "In spite of a “teaser” of a rally and stock markets holding their July 15 lows, equity markets were still in the red for the month of July. The MSCI World Index was down 2.5%, with the MSCI Emerging Market Index (-4.2%) faring even worse." 6. Frank Barbera charts the US dollar, stocks, and commodity markets. 7. Gary Dorsch explores the arcane world of commodities and currencies . 8. "The Cost of Socialism" - John Browne, Euro Pacific Capital. "Over the past few decades, the United States has steadily evolved from a natio...

I know I'm not the only one to have noticed a striking resemblance between famed Fidelity fund manager, Peter Lynch, and artist, Andy Warhol. A quick Google search reveals this to be so; it seems quite a few people have commented on the similarity in their looks. So file this post in the "random observation" department, but there is something fun and interesting about this to me. I guess I first noticed how much the two look alike about ten years ago, while reading Lynch's One Up On Wall Street and Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett's Andy Warhol Diaries in close succession. There was another interesting similarity between Lynch and Warhol that occurred to me over time. Not only did they look alike, but both seemed to be very recognizable public figures and spokesmen for their respective professions. While Andy Warhol was (and still is) one of the art world's most recognizable figures and an unflinching proponent of the view of art as a business , Peter Lynch ...

Barron's editorial page editor Thomas G. Donlan has a few things to say about the SEC's latest move to protect financial firms from supposed rumor-mongering and naked short-selling in this week's Barron's editorial commentary. In, "Swatting an Imaginary Fly" , Donlan reminds SEC officials (and Barron's readers) that short-sellers are not to blame for the very real problems facing certain banks and financial companies. "The SEC also denounced false rumors and undertook to fish through traders' e-mails and phone records in search of rumor-mongers. Its reasoning was simple: "False rumors can lead to a loss of confidence in our markets. Such loss of confidence can lead to panic selling, which may be further exacerbated by "naked" short-selling. As a result, the prices of securities may artificially and unnecessarily decline well below the price level that would have resulted from the normal price-discovery process. If significant financ...

David Einhorn , founder of Greenlight Capital and author of "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time", speaks with "View from the markets" , FT.com's weekly video interview series. In this three part interview , David offers his view of the recent move by the SEC to curb alleged naked-shorting in a list of 19 financial shares (a move he calls "a rather peculiar action"), the scapegoating of short-sellers for the problems affecting financial companies, the role of ratings agencies and risk management in the financial industry, and investing in distressed debt and shares. Interestingly, Einhorn refused to provide an update on the status of his past short position in Lehman Brothers. When asked, he did say that his views on the company were well known and that he had nothing new to add at this time. Is this a sign that Greenlight has decided to cover some or all of its previous short position, or is Einhorn just keeping mum in light of the recent publ...

Plenty of investment and world news to share this week, with a special focus on banks and derivatives. Let's dive right in to this Friday's, "Features of the week" . 1. "Ich bin ein Berliner": Obama-mania grips Europe . 2. Foreclosure activity surges in US (especially in Nevada & California). 3. A look at the US Housing Bill ( I guess "GSE bailout bill" didn't have the appropriate ring). 4. Crowd gathers for House Judiciary hearing on Bush "impeachment" . 5. Is a UK house price crash in the offing? 6. US and EU expand sanctions against Mugabe government . Note : Remember what we said on Monday ; the Western governments are stepping up their response after Zimbabwe threatened to seize foreign firms supporting Western sanctions. This is about money. 7. India's Sensex drops 502 points after soaring earlier in the week . 8. Jean-Marie Eveillard sees investment opportunity in India and Asia. 9. A recent sharp reversal for the...

A bit of Thursday afternoon humor ahead of our Friday "Features" post: here's John Adams & Thomas Jefferson at the Drive-Through . I found this clip back on July 4 and had to share it. Can't believe it hasn't been watched more on YouTube (only 2,000 views?!). Enjoy, and grab me a Shamrock Shake while you're at it, will you?

Marc Faber speaks of weakness in the technology sector, a spreading global recession, and issues surrounding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in this latest Bloomberg TV interview . Reiterating certain points made in an earlier interview with CNBC , Marc notes that while Fed governors may not recognize (or face up to) signs of recession, the average person on the street feels the impact of rising prices and weakening business conditions. This slowdown will be felt particularly in technology and industrial commodities. He also feels that Fannie and Freddie should be split up into separate private enterprises, rather than be bailed out. Echoing points made by Jim Rogers in his recent Bloomberg appearance , Marc notes that a bailout of Fannie and Freddie would amount to a rescue of "people who have made bad investments" at the expense of taxpayers and common citizens. One last point on the stock market and the overall economic picture. While Marc allows that the possibility for overso...