Robster

Citigroup Strategist: Market Has Already Bottomed

Levkovich keeps getting it wrong, most notably with his prediction of S&P 1550 by end '09. Hmmm! Try 30% below that. And he says 'in a typical bear market'. Well i don't think this is a typical bear market - just look at consumer confidence being the lowest ever recorded. Back to the Citi drawing board, or should we say dart board.

Citi's Pandit Spams His Customers

thanks felix, good one. Citi seems to be spiralling its way down.

Better To Be Lucky Than Smart: The Bear Market is Over

fxtrader07 - i didn't really think it would play out like you have mentioned here but i like your scenario. Had they allowed the market to drop to its natural low instead of propping it up in Jan/Mar then you may have seen a healthy, sustained rally. But there is little chance the valuation of this market can be sustained with all the inherent fundamental problems you mention. So if the rally does capitulate, it will be sharp, nasty and 3rd quarter sounds about right!

Market Bulls: Everything's Coming Up Roses?

bulls will tell you globalisation i suspect.

Good News: Consumer Confidence Falls to 26-Year Low

why is it that authors get on this website and use 1 point of historical data and 1 point only to predict a stock market movement, in this case a rally. Ok so the last 2 times consumer confidence was so low the market rally? Why would it be the same this time? What if consumer confidence hasn't bottomed. What about all the other fundamentals that point to a bear market such as...um...lemme think.... a credit squeeze, high inflation, dwindling dollar. This is one sided journalism/blogging whatever you call it.

MBIA: Fallout From Loss of Fitch AAA Rating

you think fitch doesn't know? fitch knows!

Central Banks Have Become Dangerous

agree with nukldrager - the middle class is disappearing. Inflation is the problem here. Credit crunch is the symptom.

Calls For A Market Ready to "Rocket Higher"

well the author has sold me. I'm off to buy right away with this fundamentally stirring article. Pity the author didn't tell both sides of the story based on facts rather than hunches and then make a conclusion - i may have been convinced.

Meredith Whitney's Out on a Limb With This Citi Bashing

yup and how much are they forking out in interest to Abu Dhabi. If i was getting 11% on Aa2 convertibles from Citi, i would also do that trade, given the big, dazzling figures you present above. Hardly surprising they dropped money into their vault. Abu Dhabi are the real winners there.

Meredith Whitney Threatens Severe Deflation For Your Portfolio

if you pump stocks to go up for long enough eventually they will ...right Phil. As a financial analyst she spends her whole day doing...well....just that - analysing the financials. Stop trying to rubbish her credibility. Besides you're a volatility player anyway.

Why Commodities Are Likely to Struggle in 2008

it will be interesting to see what happens with china after the olympics. I still think they are going to steam ahead with infrastructure development. The China's, India's and Russia's of this world are a different ballgame. They are just eating up commodities. Hard to see how the U.S. recession will stop that.

Bailout Nation

i can just see jack nicholson reciting mark mcugh's words in a blockbuster film. Absolutely brilliant!

Dollar Must Get Weaker Before It Gets Stronger

clutching at straws...or do you know of a co-ordinated intervention by central banks around the globe.

U.S. Decouples From Global Markets - in Reverse

this is elementary (and normally i respect much of bespoke's work). When we talk of decoupling we are talking about countries' actual economies. Stock returns don't provide a 100% accurate picture of a country's economy but in fact GDP is the better measure that should be used. With US GDP growth down to 0.6%, China's still strong at 11.2%, over 8% for India, 7% Malaysia and around 8% in Russia, i think we can see a decoupling occuring. The notion of this article should be changed if you are alluding to stock market returns decoupling. I would have expected the learned bespoke fellas to have distinguished that.

Fannie and Freddie Get a Little Breathing Room

Ok so lets see - On March 12 Freddie Mac Chief Executive Officer Richard Syron said he's urging changes in federal rules that enabled too many low- and moderate-income Americans to buy houses they can't afford.

It's ``perverse'' that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two biggest providers of money for U.S. home loans, have been encouraged ``to put people into homes that they end up losing,'' Syron said at a meeting with analysts and investors in New York.
Both he and Daniel Mudd (CEO Fannie Mae) have predicted a bleaker 2008 than 2007.

So the solution is, throw more money at them, loosen their requirements even more so they can use even more leverage to keep it all pumping. Good luck with that..pffft.