Investing

Economy

• U.S. stocks rise sharply on bargain-hunting
  • U.S. stocks rose sharply Wednesday, as traders fished for bargains following the steep decline in the previous session, with Dow component Intel Corp. and other technology shares posting strong gains.
• Wednesday's Personal Finance stories
  • Maybe Americans are getting a whole lot healthier, feeling physically bulletproof enough to eschew health insurance. That would be one possible explanation for why the ranks of the uninsured continue to grow, despite efforts to reverse a six-year trend that now has 47 million going without coverage.
• Existing Home Sales Fall in 41 States
  • Sales of existing homes fell in 41 states during the April-June quarter while home prices were down in one-third of the metropolitan areas surveyed, a real estate trade group reported Wednesday.
• Federal Reserve poised to pump more money into markets
  • The US Federal Reserve said Wednesday it may pump more money into the jittery financial system when the stock markets open for trading to meet increased liquidity demands...
• Subprime Problems Spread Into Commercial Loans
  • Turmoil in the subprime mortgage market spread again yesterday — this time to a type of short-term security held by money market mutual funds. These funds have become the investment of choice for many people seeking a safe haven...
• The Secret World of Central Banks
  • By the time you read this, the Fed's decision - made in secret - will have already been announced. Hundreds of news articles and blogs will argue over its wording and meaning. Was it dovish or hawkish? Discussed ad nauseam will be: what the policy statement does or does not clarify, what it leaves room for in the future, what it means for the economy, housing, jobs, and the prospects for recession or recovery...
• Fed Pumps Another $35B Into US Financial System Friday to Stem Credit Turmoil
  • The Fed pushed $35 billion in temporary reserves into the system Friday morning, on top of a similar move the day before...

Metals

• Gold futures end flat, but metal stocks sell off
  • "Although the trading range for gold still appears to be contained within the $656-$675 value markers, the repeated failures to react to the paper markets' woes with conviction are indeed raising questions as to just when the metal will prove its mettle and what order of magnitude debacle it takes to convince investors to flock to the safety that gold is thought to provide," said Jon Nadler, analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers...
• Gold, Silver Gain as Investors Seek Haven From Subprime Losses
  • Gold and silver rose in New York as investors sought a haven from potential losses tied to the U.S. subprime-mortgage collapse...
• Fed providing liquidity to facilitate orderly markets
  • The Federal Reserve said Friday it's providing liquidity "to facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets." In a statement, the Fed said it will provide reserves "as necessary" through open market operations to promote trading in the federal funds market at rates close to 5.25%...
• Gold falls sharply on credit jitters, equities decline
  • "In metals, this is a pretty deep correction," said Charles Nedoss, gold analyst at the Peak Trading Group. "You came back through almost every moving average technically. You are seeing a lot of selling technically. It looks bad right now."
• Gold futures gain almost $8 to end the week up 1.8%
  • December gold climbed $7.80 to close at a more than one-week high of $684.40 an ounce as weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs growth helped fuel investment demand for gold. The contract finished the week with a gain of $12.10. September silver rose 1.3% to close at $13.158 an ounce, up 3.5% for the week. September copper fell 2.6% to close at $3.479 a pound, down 2% for the week...
• Gold hits 1-week high as dollar drops on jobs data
  • Gold jumped more than one percent to a one-week high on Friday as a fall in the dollar after lower-than-expected U.S. data on jobs growth prompted investors to buy bullion. Gold <XAU=> rose as high as $671.25 an ounce and was quoted at $669.60/670.40 by 1423 GMT, against $664.30/664.90 in New York late on Thursday.
• TheStreet.com on Ron Paul and the Gold Standard
  • The gist of my criticism is this: Mr. Constable tries to make it appear that Ron Paul wants to "go back" to an inflexible system that was abandoned in the 19th century. Nothing could be further from the truth. Dr. Paul himself has said there were flaws with the past system, and he would in fact like to move forward to a new, commodity-based, honest money system. A 100% reserve gold standard has never, in fact, existed in the United States...
• Is gold breaking out as the dollar falls?
  • Dollar weakness:gold strength, has been the maxim of many gold market followers, and indeed we seem to be in a period when the dollar continues to fall, while gold seems that it may be breaking out of its recent tight trading range. Indications are that the yellow metal will now move upwards further but whether there is sufficient momentum there to breach the $700 level at this time remains to be seen.

The Dollar

US Dollar May Continue to Gain as the Dow Plummets, Treasuries Surge

• • This may be encouraging to some as a signal that the US economy will be better equipped to weather the storm of the subprime mortgage industry implosion. However, this indicator clearly looks back at the economy’s performance rather than looking ahead, which may limit its impact on the markets (barring a huge unexpected revision).
• Dollar Rally Accelerates: Best Opportunity Against
• Treasurys Rally as Investors Seek a Safe Haven
  • The two-year Treasury note's yield fell steeply Thursday as U.S. government bonds gained a robust safe haven bid on investors' fears about credit and a surge in bets for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September...
• 50 Factors that Affect the Value of the US Dollar
  • Would you believe something as mundane as a rainstorm in New England can affect the value of the Dollar? It’s true. The US Dollar is subject to numerous influences, from politics to Walmart, and everything in between. The following list contains 50 factors that affect the value of the US dollar, both big and small...
• Quick go to Canada before the dollar is completely worthless
  • The U.S. dollar sank to new lows against the euro and British pound Monday and was mixed against other currencies in European trading. Gold prices fell. The euro traded at $1.3816, down from $1.3822 late Friday in New York. It reached $1.3846 in Asian trading Monday, an all-time high. Later, in midday trading in New York, the euro fetched $1.3814.
• The Biggest Dollar Diversifiers Are American
  • The dollar is very weak relative to most currencies. While cyclical factors have played an important role, I don’t believe that cable is trading at 2.05 and EUR/USD at 1.38 due only to these rather innocuous cyclical factors. Other structural factors may be at play. One possible structural reason for the dollar to have had a gradual downward trajectory since 2002 is, I suspect, portfolio diversification by US real money managers...
• Money is Also Destroyed
  • If money can be created from thin air, the opposite is also true: it can be destroyed as well. Usually it is the Federal Reserve System that does the creating, but the destruction comes by other means. Bear Stearns’ hedge fund investors have found this out the hard way. Two of its funds recently went belly up, taking 100% of investors’ capital with them. One of the funds, the Bear Stearns High-Grade Structured Credit Strategies...