Mortgage REIT Math, Or How Rising Rates Cause Investor Pain [View article]
Clearly higher rates from Ben and company (not this year, thank you) will deal the REITs problems. They will not fade to black, but I for one am taking what gains I have and selling (some) of my holding. It seems prudent and wise.
Natural Gas Summer Weather Outlook: Tropical Storms, Other Commodities [View article]
NG the price cannot be low forever and won't. As soon as the export gets into high gear, the price goes high very fast. Industry is converting to NG. Transportation is slowly going that way too. Bright future. Coal is dead and should be. A dirty energy source.
Chesapeake Utilities A Standout Utility Dividend Stock [View article]
CPX Less than 3% yield. Not enough to beat inflation in the coming months, if even today. Your plethora of charts and grafts needs more risk. Risk averse is also profit averse.
Why You Should Not Buy National Bank Of Greece [View article]
. No country in the EU has had more austerity. How is that austerity working? It ain't. Austerity without economic growth is a slow death. Unless those NPLs appreciate there is going to be a lot of Greece for sale in 2015. Can I buy an Island please.
NBG will make it. it is THE GREEK bank. When it rolls over and plays dead at sub $1 a share I say buy.
The U.K.'s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards will reportedly debate a 600-page report that it has put together tomorrow and on Tuesday, with probable topics of discussion including splitting RBS (RBS) up into "good" and "bad" banks, a lack of competition, excessive pay and inadequate regulation. One of the problems, says an official, is that the banks are too big and complex for effective governance. [View news story]
All regulations are not bad. I know the "free enterprise" zealots just think that no regulations and paying no taxes is the only way. Of course they are naive and wrong. The "good bank, bad bank" was used by Ireland with IRE. So far it has worked. It is a quick fix. It has kept the wolf away from selling off all the bad loans and driving down the value of houses. In case you don't know there are NO deals on any houses I could find to buy. I believe the time to buy SAN is when the poop hits the fan and the bank is forced to acknowledge and write off its bad loans and raise money to compensate.
Then again, sometimes people guess (educated?) and are right. Maybe there is a website for companies who are in legal disputes. No that would be too large a website for any server to handle. And it would crash the cloud.
BP (BP), Shell (RDS.A), Statoil (STO) and others have been sued for allegedly conspiring to fix the price of Brent Crude oil and futures contracts. The lawsuit, which was filed by Chicago-based commodity trading house Prime International, is the first such action following news of a European investigation into possible oil-price manipulation. [View news story]
This is a tough lawsuit. Unless they have messages and secret information the suit goes nowhere, plus suing the richest companies in the world is not a financially wise idea. Settlement? Not in this case. It is do or die. How can you rig a futures contract anyway?
Why Are 7.5 Million Jobless Americans Unaccounted For? [View article]
Don't worry conservatives to the rescue. They will soon introduce legislation making it illegal to be poor. The GOP, tea baggers believe all unemployed people want to NOT work. They want NO unemployment payments. Again the conservatives have the solution--just lower the minimum wage to say $1.50 an hour and there will be jobs galore. We don't need to stinking minimum wage is their mantra.
Retirement Investors Should Take Advantage Of Misguided Fear [View article]
The FED and Ben have been right all along. You conservative DOOM AND GLOOM folks just do not get it. You guys and girls just love austerity...as long as it is NOT your austerity.
National Bank Of Greece: Trading Halts Between May 24-30 [View article]
The only question is the bank going to make it in the future. The answer is yes. True, that FUTURE might be 2016 or 2018, but the National Bank of Greece will survive. Greece is slowly making it back from the brink. Is this a speculation play? You bet'cha. If the warrants are redeemable by 2018 or later it would be better. The warrants should be available on the open market post issue.
The Safest Way To Play Rising Interest Rates [View article]
I don't think there is a safe way. Contrary to all the Obama and Fed haters there may, and probably will be, an orderly rise in the interest rates. There is NOT going to be wild inflation because of the supply of money nor is there going to be stag-flation or another recession. That is. unless the knuckleheads get in power and impose austerity. How is your austerity working in Europe? It ain't.
Of the €208.2B in non-performing loans Spanish banks have refinanced (in order to avoid recognizing them as NPLs), nearly half are treated as though they are not distressed, dubiously eliminating the need to take provisions against them, FT says. These banks have until September to reclassify restructured loans under tougher guidelines, a mandate that will likely necessitate fresh provisioning at some institutions. Between them, Santander (SAN), BBVA, and Caixabank (CAIXY.PK) had €76B in refinanced debt on their books at the end of last year. [View news story]
I was in Spain for two months. Contrary to all the news about massive unemployment and austerity there is very little austerity to see. No mass unemployed on the streets begging for money. The shop are not closing in mass. Try finding a parking space on any city in Spain after 10 a.m. Gas is $8 a gallon and the streets are jammed. There are NO real estate deals. prices at restaurants are beyond high AND the portions are meager. The Spanish have an unique work ethos. Start work at 10 a.m. take a 2/3 hour lunch break at 12:30 and work to maybe 5,6 or 7. Ah the good life.
Mortgage REIT Math, Or How Rising Rates Cause Investor Pain [View article]
Penn West Cuts Its Dividend, But The Market Is Focused On Big Insider Buying [View article]
Natural Gas Summer Weather Outlook: Tropical Storms, Other Commodities [View article]
Chesapeake Utilities A Standout Utility Dividend Stock [View article]
The Oil Spill Settlement Could Bring BP To Its Knees [View article]
American Capital Agency Among The Worst mREITs [View article]
Why You Should Not Buy National Bank Of Greece [View article]
NBG will make it. it is THE GREEK bank. When it rolls over and plays dead at sub $1 a share I say buy.
The U.K.'s Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards will reportedly debate a 600-page report that it has put together tomorrow and on Tuesday, with probable topics of discussion including splitting RBS (RBS) up into "good" and "bad" banks, a lack of competition, excessive pay and inadequate regulation. One of the problems, says an official, is that the banks are too big and complex for effective governance. [View news story]
Finally Some News On Syntroleum [View article]
BP (BP), Shell (RDS.A), Statoil (STO) and others have been sued for allegedly conspiring to fix the price of Brent Crude oil and futures contracts. The lawsuit, which was filed by Chicago-based commodity trading house Prime International, is the first such action following news of a European investigation into possible oil-price manipulation. [View news story]
Why Are 7.5 Million Jobless Americans Unaccounted For? [View article]
We don't need to stinking minimum wage is their mantra.
Retirement Investors Should Take Advantage Of Misguided Fear [View article]
National Bank Of Greece: Trading Halts Between May 24-30 [View article]
Is this a speculation play? You bet'cha. If the warrants are redeemable by 2018 or later it would be better. The warrants should be available on the open market post issue.
The Safest Way To Play Rising Interest Rates [View article]
Of the €208.2B in non-performing loans Spanish banks have refinanced (in order to avoid recognizing them as NPLs), nearly half are treated as though they are not distressed, dubiously eliminating the need to take provisions against them, FT says. These banks have until September to reclassify restructured loans under tougher guidelines, a mandate that will likely necessitate fresh provisioning at some institutions. Between them, Santander (SAN), BBVA, and Caixabank (CAIXY.PK) had €76B in refinanced debt on their books at the end of last year. [View news story]