Investment/Trends

Bank of Japan To Double ETF Purchases in Next Round of Easing

"Japan’s central bank will probably double purchases of exchange-traded funds in a second round of monetary easing under Governor Haruhiko Kuroda anticipated in coming months, a Bloomberg News survey of economists shows. The Bank of Japan, which tomorrow is forecast to leave unchanged a 60 to 70 trillion yen target for yearly expansion of the monetary base, will increase annual ETF buys to 2 trillion yen, according to a survey of 36 analysts. Evidence of budding inflation expectations among Japan’s companies may restrain more ambitious plans, such as open-ended ETF purchases, even as the economy slows because of this month’s sales-tax increase." Continue reading →

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Jim Rogers: Buy Russia & China

"Russia is very, very cheap, and it’s a very neglected stock market with enormous natural resources. I first went to Russia in 1966 and came away negative, and I stayed negative for the next 46 years, so it’s been a long-term bear for me. But in recent months I’ve started changing my views and have started buying shares in Russia. Another one might be Japan. I don’t know if Japan is ignored or not, but it’s down 60-70 percent from its all-time highs, so it’s still neglected to some extent. In 20 years, we’ll look back at Japan, and its death knell will be what Mr. Abe did in 2012-2014. But in the meantime, there are staggering amounts of money and spending, and printing has to go somewhere." Continue reading →

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Read more about the article Interview with finance guru, entrepreneur Jeff Berwick

Interview with finance guru, entrepreneur Jeff Berwick

"I personally save a percentage of the profits of all my Bitcoin revenue I receive with no plans to sell. I have been offering every product that my companies offer for Bitcoin for three years now so I have been constantly squirreling away bitcoins. We have sold passports, offshore bank accounts and corporations, newsletter subscriptions to TDV and even condos that I offer through my company in Acapulco, AcaCondos and rentals at my hotel in Acapulco, Las Torres Gemelas Private Suites for bitcoins and as I stated my strategy is to keep a large percentage of my profit on those transactions in Bitcoin." Continue reading →

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European central banks mull bolder moves to prevent low inflation

"Asked what tools the ECB has remaining, Mr. Liikanen, who has headed Finland’s central bank since 2004 and is on the ECB’s 24-member governing council, cited a negative deposit rate as well as additional loans to banks and asset purchases. Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann didn’t rule out large-scale asset purchases, known as quantitative easing. Mr. Liikanen also said it was an option for the ECB and wouldn’t run afoul of rules prohibiting the central bank from financing governments. The Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan have aggressively used the policy to keep inflation from falling too low." Continue reading →

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Cheap Printing vs. Expensive Drilling

"Yellen explained that the Fed helps people secure employment 'by influencing interest rates.' She followed, 'Although we work through financial markets, our goal is to help Main Street, not Wall Street.' Her predecessor used the same rhetoric in 2012. 'This is a Main Street policy. Many people own stocks directly or indirectly. The issue here is whether or not improving asset prices generally will make people more willing to spend.' Oil, unlike the Fed’s fiat dollars, can’t be created out of nothing. And, job or no job, people are driving. Mrs. Yellen tells crowds, Don’t worry be happy, your job will be printed anytime now. Let’s just say, for those with a job to go to, getting there will not be getting easier." Continue reading →

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Bitcoin Prices Whipsawed by Looming China Crackdown

"While the PBOC doesn't appear ready to ban Bitcoin outright, they appear determined to drive it out of the Chinese banking system. The Chinese government apparently was concerned over investor speculation in the digital currency, and in particular in the use of Bitcoin to move money outside the country. Once people started using Bitcoin to bypass China's strict capital controls, the government almost had no choice but to cut it off from the banking system. For China's Bitcoin exchanges, which include BTC China and OKCoin, the news is bad but not necessarily fatal. But longer term, this is just another pebble in the stream." Continue reading →

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Argentina inches toward economic crisis, again

"Inflation is accelerating and projected to hit 40% in 2014, according to Sergio Berensztein, director of Poliarquía Consultores. Unofficial estimates put the inflation rate at above 25% in 2013, much higher than the official government rate of 10.9% — a figure few believe, Berensztein says. A study from consultancy Estudio Bein estimates inflation has eroded wages nearly 10% over the past four months. The Argentine peso was devalued nearly 20% in January, further diminishing purchasing power and making imported items more expensive. Moody's downgraded Argentina's sovereign rating March 17 to Caa1, seven levels below investment grade status, Bloomberg reported." Continue reading →

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Bank of Montreal CEO: Bank is open to Bitcoin, conditionally

"If it was reliable and if it was regulated, 'then there’s no reason why we couldn’t be an intermediary in bitcoin-related transactions,' Bill Downe said in an interview after the company’s annual general meeting in Toronto. 'Because, if you wanted a Swiss franc transaction or a Japanese yen transaction or a U.S. dollar transaction, we can do that transaction for you,' he said. 'If bitcoin [can be] a reliable medium of exchange, then at that point in the future, we would be able to [conduct business] with bitcoin.' So far, however, almost every major banking chief in North America has either stayed mum on, or openly derided, the currency. Canada’s banking watchdog said it does not regulate bitcoin." Continue reading →

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Yellen Surprise Suggests Investors Should Go On Defense

"Comments this week from Janet Yellen, who just took over as Fed chair, caught many in the market off guard when she suggested the central bank may be in a position to raise its key interest rate as soon as six months after ending its massive bond-buying stimulus. That could put the first rate hike on the table by the spring of 2015 compared with previous expectations for no sooner than the second half of the year. Indeed, rate futures markets now assign a 52 percent probability to the Fed's April 2015 meeting for the first rate hike versus just a 33 percent chance a month ago. Stocks such as utilities could be an option to steer clear of some of the hotter stocks and sectors of 2013 that are now richly valued." Continue reading →

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Fund Manager Jeremy Grantham Blasts the Fed

"The Fed can manipulate stock prices. That's perhaps the only thing they can do. But why would you want to get an advantage from the wealth effect when you know you are going to have to give it all back when the Fed reverses course. At the same time, the Fed encourages steady increasing leverage and more asset bubbles. It's clear to most investing professionals that they can benefit from an asymmetric bet here. The Fed gives them very cheap leverage on the upside, and then bails them out on the downside. And you should have more confidence of that now. The only ones who have really benefited from QE are hedge fund managers." Continue reading →

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