Archive for October 2009
Do you feel the recovery? The markets did on Thursday as word that the economy grew by 3.5% in the third quarter led to a 200-point rally in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index.
However those gains were lost and then some on Friday as the Dow dropped 225 points. And it could have been more than simple buy the rumor sell the fact activity.
Regulation talk was all the rage at the Futures Industry Association’s annual expo in Chicago today. In his keynote address, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Gary Gensler reiterated past talk about over the counter (OTC) derivatives clearing reform and CFTC-SEC harmonization. Exchange leaders also weighed in with thoughts about how some of the proposals coming down the pike could make the U.S. futures industry less competitive.
On the eve of the annual Futures Industry Association’s Futures and Options Expo there is a lot of activity and rumors floating around.
When the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit 10,000 for the first time in March 1999, I was standing on the financial floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. A large roar of approval rose from the traders as the Dow hit that historic and unprecedented benchmark.
Speaking late last week in Washington Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke hinted that rate hikes may be on the way. Bernanke said, “When the economic outlook has improved sufficiently, we will be prepared to tighten the stance of monetary policy and eventually return our balance sheet to a more normal configuration.”
Not exactly a bold statement but a necessary one as it became imperative to say something supportive of the dollar after last week’s weakness. It has not lasted as the dollar made a new low for the move today.
As the dollar continues its massive losing streak, the last place you would expect to see it is in the “best” column on any “best/worst” style list. But that’s exactly where it falls on Casey Research’s new report on the economy, “The Good, Bad, and Ugly: Year-End 2009.” Casey Research lists the U.S. dollar under “The Good” column because the dollar is the reserve currency of banks around the world. Continue reading ‘Good, bad, mostly ugly’ »
Gold futures hit an all time record high of $1,045 on Tuesday spurred on by a story in the London based Independent. The story stated that a cabal of Middle East oil producing nations along with China, Russia, Japan and France where conspiring to replace the dollar as the currency for crude oil.
CME Group has received a lot of honors since its IPO in late 2002 and generally is seen as a pretty forward looking company, so it was a bit of a surprise to see on a list of Chicago “worst boards”.
