Posted on 10/23/2008 10:59:28 AM PDT by expat_panama
Commodities slumped for a second straight session Wednesday amid two-year highs in the dollar and a slowdown in China — the world's fastest-growing economy — which intensified fears of global recession.
Falling stock prices also weakened raw materials markets, which have taken their direction lately from equities despite commodities often being touted as an uncorrelated asset class.
"A lot of investors are beginning to use equities markets as a guide to decide how the economy will be doing, and it's all bearish at the moment," said Clarence Chu, a trader at Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore.
The price of copper, regarded as a barometer of economic health, fell more than 7% in New York and London, nearing three-year lows.
U.S. crude oil also slumped more than 7% to below $67 a barrel, fetching less than half of its record high price of $147.27 set on July 11. U.S. gold futures fell 4%, hitting a one-year bottom.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
I think we can sum up the MSM with the following flowchart:
HAS something happened?
Yes ---> It's bad!
No ---> Should it happen?
Yes ---> It's bad!
No ---> WHY ISN'T IT HAPPENING!!
COULD something happen?
Yes ---> Oh, no! Bomb shelters, and floods, and we need the Government to save us!
No ---> But the All-Powerful Government SHOULD be able to do something...
Those were the days. You didn't have to pump your own gas either.
That sounds like:
"Since the price stopped going up, it has been going down".
Did you mean something different?
I believe the strength in the dollar is only temporary. People are selling all their equities and putting their money into dollars since the stock market is unsafe. Once the Fed starts inflating to pay for the $850 bailout, the dollar will be devalued, and gold will go up.
“We want $9 a barrel, 19 cent a gallon gas along with a 12 oz. Marvel Comics glass for every fill up over 12 gallons”
I would just be happy with soapy water in the windshield( windscreen for you blokes)washer stand.
How about a free Presidential coin(Sunoco, 1968)?
Whenever I see the new $1 Presidential coins, they remind me of the Sunoco aluminum Presidential coins.
Hm, I see. Thank you.
Remember what George Soros did to the British economy. By shorting the pound he almost brought England to its financial knees. Could it be that someone(s) did the same bidding up the price of oil to hurt the economy enough just before the elections. Let’s face it, a bad economy will hurt Republicans. The price for a barrel of oil has declined over 50% while world demand has dropped 7%.
The dollar rises... but our deficit is nauseatingly high, our GDP and balance sheet inspires less confidence than Jimmy Carter and trillions in derivitives, MB securities and useless investment “vehicles” mar the balance sheets of our biggest financial institutions
The BIS claimed 1.144 trillion in outstanding derivitives; if that number doesn’t resonate, check your ^&@%#ing pulse
Our monetization policies are absurd. Reagan era supply-side econ is a pipe-dream and W has sold us down the river
Will the sky fall? Will cities topple and busses stop running? Will food become scarce and mob hordes roam out cities?
No
But this is STILL rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. You don’t print fiat money ad nauseum for years and years and expect that the DOW dropping a few thousand and OPEC losing traction is going to solve it. Sorry.
Or maybe the Fedgov will borrow the money instead. Or maybe the paper they buy will be worth more than what they're paying for it and the real cost will be lower. Or maybe Obama will raise taxes to pay for it all and the economy will truly crash and none of this will matter anyway.
And: “Check the oil and air after you clean the windows.”
Just one question: It's been several years since we've been to Europe. Does my wife have to wear a hijab there now?
Let's see, we had no deficit like back in '98; don't tell me you liked Clinton's defense cuts.
our GDP and balance sheet...
GDP is still increasing and net worth is 1-1/2 times what it was with Clinton.
... 1.144 trillion in outstanding derivitives... ... the DOW ... Sorry."
Actually, the DOW is more than a thousand points higher than it was after your 9/11. This is fine, because I like America better off even while you won't even hear of it. After all, we're talking about preferences here and you can go for whatever you want. Of course, the problem these days is the election. You can't put Obama and his buddies in power and think that things will be better.
No. You’re drawing a very incorrect conclusion from the data.
The US dollar is stronger vs. the Euro because when the EU was suddenly found to have EXACTLY the same banking problems, the same bubble, with worse leverage, then the US banks... suddenly people discovered that the Euro is a currency with no sovereign nation behind it.
Suddenly, a whole lot of folks who needed some education in financial civics got it — fast and hard. The Euro is nothing more than a squishy currency convention between trading partners. It is NOT a reserve currency.
And with that ugly realization, there were huge amounts of money that came flooding into the US in the form of Treasury notes and bills. Huge amounts of money. And people started taking bets against the Euro.
This is a seismic event in international finance. It is akin to some very sophisticated people realizing that their entire epistemology is based on a flawed assumption — something like realizing that everything you learned and know about geography is bogus, because the world really is flat after all.
The US economy is NOT doing well. Further, given that much of our GDP since 2006 has been based on exports as the housing market collapsed, the collapse in the emerging markets and EU zone means that we’re going to see real negative GDP going forward, because the domestic GDP was pretty dismal this past summer, and clearly isn’t getting better.
Of course, we've got all these gold bugs around here. No wonder there's so much complaining!
See my explanation above.
The strength of the US dollar vs. the Euro comes down to ONE thing:
The US dollar is backed by ONE Treasury, ONE country, ONE political sovereign. The US dollar, the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the whole schmeer — belongs to ONE country.
The Euro? Uh, well... um... er... ahhhh....
That’s what people who used to be backing the Euro have realized. When the EU banking system hit the fan, the Europeans suddenly realized that the Euro and ECB are NOT going to work like the US Treasury and the Fed.
I bet the people who bought Smart Cars and paid big premiums for Priuses are really happy about now. I cant help but laugh at people driving those ridiculous Smart cars. Those things have a wheelbase like a bicycle and weigh almost as much.
I think you need a new strawman. It's the season, and yours is all worn out.
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