Charting Stocks

The yield on 3 month treasury bills remain at lows not seen since the great depression.

When we wrote “Inflating a Bull Market,” we mentioned the inverse relationship between the US dollar and stock prices. In March, the US dollar peaked from overbought levels and began to decline. At the same time stocks bottomed from oversold levels and began to move up. The reason is simple – Stocks are priced [...]

Extended Stay America has become the latest casualty of the economic crisis. The operator of low to mid priced hotels filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as consumers cut back on travel leisure spending.
According to the bankruptcy filing, Extended Stay America has $7 billion in assets with $7.6 billion in debt. The company owns 680 [...]

Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of Ireland for the second time this year.  S&P cited the vast amount of money the government must continue to throw at the nations banking system.
The rating was cut down to AA, from AA+,  moving it to the same  level the United Arab Emirates as Japan, and Slovenia [...]

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told lawmakers at the Capitol that “California’s day of reckoning is here.”  Without any action, the state will run out of money in 14 days. Three months after the state budget was approved, California faces a $24 billion deficit (er that’s on a 90+ billion budget).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose almost 240 points (3.5%) today. As mentioned in a previous post, large daily percentage gains are more consistent with bear markets than bulls. Todays rally was led by banks and REIT’s,  two of the most beaten up and oversold sectors – also consistent with a bear market correction.
Below is [...]

Alabama’s Jefferson County is unable to make a $636 million sewer debt payment due Friday. The county will hold an emergency meeting to vote on an extension request which they hope will buy some time.
The county was recently downgraded by the ratings agencies which resulted in accelerated principal and interest payments due to banks.  The [...]

The Federal Reserve Board announced that loan delinquencies for the 4th quarter of 2008 grew at the fastest pace since the fed started keeping records in 1985. Banks were forced to charge-off a record $48.5 billion in the quarter compared with $13.9 billion in the same period last year.
Residential real estate delinquincies rose to a [...]

Hillary Clinton has asked China to keep buying U.S. debt and to work with Washington in combating the global economic crisis. Clinton was speaking Sunday before leaving Beijing at the end of a four-nation tour of Asia — her first overseas trip since taking office.
Clinton urged that buying treasuries would be in China’s interest as [...]

Reuters is reporting that Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
This would be the third trip to the bankruptcy courts for Trump Entertainment, though my hunch is that this will be the last. Nine other Trump affiliated companies have also sought bankruptcy protection. Trump Plaza Associates, Trump Marina Associates and Trump [...]