http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog The Alhambra Investments Blog Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:14:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en So maybe the economy isn't headed over another cliff after all? Last week's economic data wasn't great but it was enough to rally the market 3.5% just because it wasn't as awful as expected. I haven't been particularly worried about the prospect for a double dip into recession land because ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/09/06/weekly-economic-and-market-review-25/ Bloomberg: The staunchest opposition to a universal fiduciary standard that would put clients’ interests first isn’t from securities brokers. It’s from insurance agents, comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission show. The SEC is due to submit a report to Congress in January on investor protection with the option to create ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/09/03/surprise-insurance-agents-oppose-fiduciary-standard/ Last year, Cash for Clunkers was hailed as a success by President Obama: In his radio address on Thursday, President Obama said the program, designed to stimulate auto sales and production and get gas guzzlers off the road, had "been successful beyond anybody's imagination. And we're now slightly ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/09/02/why-dont-politicians-like-poor-people/ Has sentiment reached an extreme? Is anyone surprised anymore when weak economic data is released? Were you surprised that existing home sales fell 27% last month? I wasn't and apparently neither were the people buying up home builder stocks when that news was released last Tuesday. Were you surprised to ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/08/29/weekly-economic-and-market-review-24/ Nice post by Jack Hough at Smart Money on the savings rate: Grab the resuscitation paddles. The American consumer has lost the will to shop. Haven't you heard? Jolts of stimulus cash are needed to get sales registers ringing again and restore lost jobs. Don't believe it. Such ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/08/27/consumers-arent-spending-so-what/ The Calafia Beach Pundit, Scott Grannis, is on a roll: We're not witnessing a bond bubble in the making, we're living in a statist nightmare. The future, however, is not written in stone, and there is little reason—in my view—to expect that the current state of affairs is going to ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/08/27/a-statist-nightmare/ Scott Grannis at Calafia Beach Pundit has a post with a series of charts that make the mildly bullish case. Very interesting. A sample: Industrial production is increasing at a very fast rate, with no signs of any slowdown. Most global economies also are experiencing a rapid recovery in ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/08/26/reasons-to-be-bullish/ We know there have been problems with seasonal adjustments to the unemployment claims data this summer. For example, the auto companies didn't shut down this summer as they normally do. Usually, the auto companies shut down for a few weeks each summer to retool for the new model year. For ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/08/26/are-seasonal-adjustments-distorting-unemployment-claims/ The name of this blog is Contrarian Musings for a reason. Investing is nothing more complicated than buying low and selling high. The only way to accomplish that is to be a contrarian. Investments for which there is little demand will be available at favorable prices. Investments for which there ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/08/25/doom-and-gloom/ The recent credit card legislation had these new rules for gift cards: The new rules apply to all store and merchant gift cards, as well as cards for general use, such as a Visa gift card. These rules include: * Limits on expiration dates The money on your gift card ... http://alhambrainvestments.com/blog/2010/08/25/rules-rules-and-more-rules/