Markets, Economic Data, & The Ben Bernanke Book – Ep. 73

* Markets continue to rally worldwide
* Record highs overseas - much more action in Asia
* Markets riding a sea of liquidity
* Gold had an interesting week, closing at 1207
* The dollar had one of its best weeks in months
* In terms of other currencies gold was at a 2-year high
* This means that the euphoria about the dollar is not universally shared
* Commodities in general were up - crude oil was up - holding above 50
* This is a good indication of a solid bottom on the price of gold
* Traders continuing to make bullish dollar bets in the face of bad economic data
* Traders are willing to throw out the first quarter - regardless the excuse
* The bounceback from Q1 2014 was due to reasons that will not be repeated
* Obamacare created a huge rush to sign up
* There was a big inventory build anticipating future sales
* Bets for a 2015 Q2-3 rebound are based on optimism for consumer spending
* February Revolving Credit tumbled by $3.7 billion
* Non-Revolving Credit surged $19.2 billion - mostly student loans
* Consumers are cash poor, yet Wall Street believes they will start buying when the temperature rises
* Government under-reporting student loan defaults due to forbearances
* Wednesday release of FOMC minutes encouraged the dollar speculators because there were discussions about higher interest rates in June
* Currency traders still haven't figured out the the Fed's comments are all theater
* They are playing the game based on FedSpeak until it falls apart
* A drastic turn in the FOREX markets will take a lot of people down with it
* February Wholesale Trade declined again after January reported biggest decline in 6 years
* This marks the first 3-month decline since 2008 financial crisis
* Inventories rose slightly because of decline in sales
* Inventory to Sales Ratio at 1.29 - highest since 2008 financial crisis
* 2014 GDP increase was due to rush to build inventory in anticipation of recovery
* Bottom line: economic data shows that a second-quarter bounce in the GDP is just wishful thinking
* Ben Bernanke's new book titled "The Courage to Act" belongs in the fiction section
* Let historians justify his role in history - it is far to early to claim success
* This is the same guy who was blind-sided by the 2008 financial crisis
* He claimed courageous decisions in the face of critics, while actually putting politics and the banks ahead of the country
* His book may be coming out on eve of next economic fire that he set


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