trading recap

Oh what fascinating creatures we are. Glorious. Pathetic. Noble. Base. Good. Bad. And of course, we’re weak, small, and have precious little time to learn so many complex things. Is it any wonder we’re confused, forever questioning why we do the things we do? The Terminator, Man’s strongest man, fell to his knees – conquered by Man’s fiercest enemy: thyself. Naturally, some version of this inner battle raged in

What a miracle. The basket nearly empty, the multitude many. But when they counted the dough, there appeared aplenty. USDA forecast corn stockpiles to multiply from 730mm bushels to 900mm (exports drop to 9yr lows). Wheat and soybean inventories expanded too. Oil & gas in storage surged (US fuel use fell to Jun ’09 low). Coal appeared (South Africa shipments to Asia -17%). Iron too (Chinese imports -4.4% from Apr

Obama had a helluva wk, Osama too. World wasn’t big enough for 2 names like that. The bad fella burned some garbage, slipped into pajamas, and with no phone, no internet, no cable, he picked up a jihadist comic book to read himself to sleep – f4#k their cartoons are boring. The good guy played a round of golf, rushed to watch the reality show he’d produced. Brilliant subject, cast, and crew. Swept up real good

Mara woke me at 3am. Wanted to share an intimate moment. We snuck downstairs, flipped on CNN. Two lovely souls exchanged wedding vows. And we, along with 1,000,000,000 tiny creatures across our shrinking globe, shared in that wonderful human ritual. The dress, train, veil, limousine, palace, abbey, military uniform, medals – all intended to help us imagine our little lives are bigger, and connected. We submit to the

What busy bodies we are. Just can’t help ourselves. Oh well, we’re Human. The British sent advisors to Libya, guess yelling orders at Mach 2 got old. And while the rebels don’t speak great English, they surely picked up some slang while fighting us in Iraq. The EU Parliament (whoever they are) intervened, rejecting Sarkozy and Merkel’s attempt to dilute rules that impose fines on deficit-running nations. Of course, E

Those shifting plates beneath Japan won’t stop. And it ain’t just Tokyo shaking. Global forecasts are moving too. Fukushima got upgraded from 5-7, which may be really bad, but who knows, I’ve been brainwashed to rate danger by color code. Japanese minister Yosano shuddered, “The economic damage may be bigger than expected.” The IMF did too, lowering US and Japanese GDP forecasts. Fitch opened a new fault line, placed

Yawn. Boring. Same stuff. The US Dollar extended its inexorable decline. Pretty much everything you can buy with devalued Dollars extended an inexorable rally. China continued to hike interest rates (4th time), mkts yawned. George Soros, called the ECB’s 25bp rate-hike “quite inappropriate,” continuing his thoughtful policy of criticizing every EU policy. Credit-rating agencies continued to downgrade Portugal. Of cou

Sadly, one-way bets are a rare find, usually got a short shelf life. Bernie offered one, then made off. Greenspan offered one, then hiked rates in ’94, mkts/economy collapsed. Princeton Professor, quick study, wants to slowly take back his one-way gift. Prepare us for two-way risk. Opened his aviary, ordered hawks and doves to deliver a cacophonic burst. Evans, “Substantial policy accommodation continues to be approp

Just took a little pinprick, and now we’re Comfortably Numb. Injected near-zero rates, printed Dollars, Yen, Sterling, and Euro’s (worldwide reserves hit record $9.38trln). And there’ll be no more pain, but we may feel a little sick. Analysts tallied the cost of Japan’s trifecta: $309bln (4 Katrina’s) – Nikkei surged 3.6%. Portugal’s gov’t fell (Canada’s too), stumbling into the arms of a forecast $99bln bailout. Fin