oroloco

The Rally Is at a Crossroads

Okay Jolly Rancher,

For those less astute or alert, like myself, just how did they get rid of mark-to-market so covertly? And who is "they?"

Hedges Against Inflation? Commodities, Gold and Inflation-Linked Bonds - JPM

Minuteman:

I had the same question, which I recently posed to iShares. Here is there reply, dated 2/24/09:

"With regard to your request, the TIP fund is closely tied to the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers (CPI-U). Specifically the fund tracks this indicator on a two month lag. This government indicator of inflation greatly influences our distributions for this fund. During inflationary periods the value of the underlying bonds appreciates and this appreciation is liquidated and then passed on to the investor as a distribution, as you may have noticed with the large distributions which occurred this summer. Currently, we are in a deflationary period and the November distribution reflects the CPI-U for the month of August which came out with a negative value. When CPI-U is negative the value of the underlying bonds will depreciate in value and this depreciation may offset the amount we have available to liquidate and distribute for that particular month. This was the case in the month of November 2008 through February 2009 and the reason why there was no distribution. As long as CPI-U continues indicating a deflationary environment, our TIP fund may continue to have a very low or even zero monthly distributions until we return to an inflationary period. The yields which appear on our website will give you an indicator of what has been distributed, but are not good indicators of what distributions will be going forward. A look at the CPI-U figures will give you a more accurate sentiment of the expected distribution, until CPI-U returns to a positive amount indicating inflation this fund may not distribute any cash flow."

Long Gold and Silver: A Lifeline for Struggling Hedge Funds?

Oops. This just in:

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve will double its auctions of cash to banks to as much as $900 billion and is considering further steps to unfreeze short-term lending markets as the credit crunch deepens.

That Term Auctio Facility amount looks like it will need to be increased to $900 Billion.

Chump change.

Two Moves to Make as the Fed Inflates the Commodities Bubble

When I'm convinced that commodities are in "oversupply," then I'll be convinced that we're in a commodities bubble.

Gold Glitters as We Usher in 2008

As it turned out, you wouldn't have had to hold your breath for long.

Gold Glitters as We Usher in 2008

As it turned out, you wouldn't have had to hold your breath for long.