We have recently noticed how the actions of top executives at some of the largest financial institutions are not too different from those of The Sopranos.

Allow us to explain (read more…)

The Bank of England confirmed the introduction of a “special liquidity scheme” whereby Treasury Bills will be swapped for high quality AAA rated mortgage backed securities. The Labour party that once represented socialism in Britain, is now coming to the rescue of poorly managed private banking enterprises. This gift to these banking failures is disguised as a loan with the people of Britain picking up the tab for the banking sectors grave mis-management (read more…)

It is quite an unusual occasion to see a major currency in a developed country lose more than 10% of its buying power in less than a year. However, these are unusual times!

But no matter how dire the fundamentals are for the greenback, it should still (read more…)

The International Monetary Fund has said that the financial sector faces potential losses of almost $1,000bn as a result of the credit crisis. It has also warned of further loses on prime mortgages, commercial real estate, leveraged loans and consumer finance, according to FT.com.

Jaime Caruana, head of monetary affairs and capital markets at the Fund said (read more…)

This is a question that we have wrestled with for some time now and have found it rather difficult to pin down, although we tend to lean towards the inflationary scenario. In our recent get-together in Auckland with Doug Casey we briefly touched on this topic. However, we have now obtained this article from Casey Research, which may be of interest to you.

An interview with Bud Conrad, Casey Research chief economist (read more…)

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Another week of rumour and denial as investigative reporters dig into the financial health of our well established institutions. Bankers are in the frame, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Put your hand into the hat and pull out a name and there you have it, this weeks target for the media. Ask the target for a comment regarding a rumour about their insolvency and they will deny it. Bank denies insolvency rumour is your headline. Its so reminiscent of a school trip to the pantomime, he’s behind you! Who? The monster? No, the fresh faced reporter with a microphone! (read more…)

We recently bought a position the inverse ETF called Ultra Short Financials ProShares, (AMEX:SKF) in a “Bet Against The Banks”. SKF is designed to rise 20% when the Dow Jones US Financials Index falls 10%.

This is a volatile security and has recently endured a significant pullback and, as we are still bearish on the financial sector, in our opinion this is a great time to buy (read more…)

Its difficult not to get carried away with the euphoria when the precious metals, gold and silver are at all time highs and the next stop appears to be the moon.

The last couple of days of trading has seen our sector of the market take it on the chin (read more…)