A rally such as we've witnessed in the past week needs a correction. The market shall be healthier in the new year because of it. |
And we are certain that when June's figures are compiled, the unemployment rate will be lower still. |
Certainly the move caught us unawares. Obviously, the decision to tighten monetary policy was done to defend the euro, and just as obviously, it has failed. |
Europe now finds itself in that terribly uncomfortable position that no matter what the monetary authorities do regarding interest rates, it shall be detrimental to the currency. |
Europe still has the same problems that drove the euro from its initial highs of $1.17 to its low of 88.50 cents. |
Friday's intervention efforts seemed long over-due, well organized and much needed. They shall prove fruitless, however, for of course the long-term economic reforms that Europe is in need of are only now, rather reluctantly, being put into effect, and only in small doses rather than materially. |
It should remain a concern. |
Japan needs a weak yen. We have argued that case for months, and finally it is proving of merit. |
Japan's economic conditions are horrific. We think the yen's ultimate target is well above 140 yen to the dollar. |
Japan's politicians have hunkered down and have moved to do nothing, hoping that the currency's weakness might bail them out of their morass. We are short of the yen, and we expect to remain short of the yen for the long, foreseeable future. |
Markets that will not go down on bearish news are not bear markets. |
People who have been with me for 20 years know that when I say watershed that means a major shift. I've been a dollar bull for a long period of time, have basically been neutral for the past several months and am now turning to becoming a dollar bear. This move through $1.22 is definitive. |
The October panic is hitting more than the world's equity markets; it is hitting the currency markets, too. |
The Philly Fed survey was frighteningly disturbing. |
The Sogo bankruptcy marked a major turning point in Japanese economic history. |