Blogs

In This Issue..

* Traders fear Chinese 'bubbles'...
* Bollard leaves rates unchanged... ...
* Aussie dollar rallies...
* Pound sterling rallies, but it can't last...

Good morning, Chuck headed out the door with a huge smile on his face yesterday as he heads down to spring training. With Chuck down in Florida, he handed the keyboard over to me for the rest of March. I am excited to be able to bring you the Pfennig over the next few weeks, and appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on the currency markets with all the loyal readers. For those of you who are new to the Pfennig, I have been told my style is a bit more 'dry' than Chuck's (I can't even come close to his encyclopedic knowledge of lyrics); and I typically get the Pfennig sent out a bit later than Chuck. But I will try my best to keep everyone informed and get this out in a timely manner. Lets get started....

The Market Technical The Averages (DJIA 10567, S&P 1145) inched ever closer to the upper boundary of their current trading range (9645-10725, 1009-1145). Support exists at the February 2010 to present up trend (10538, 1124). Volume declined a bit;...

Company Highlight The CME Group is the largest futures exchange in the US and the largest clearinghouse in the world for trading futures and options on futures. Annualized contract volume as of the end of the third quarter was 338 million. The company...

Last Wednesday, President Obama implored Congress to pass his latest healthcare plan, even if by only a majority vote (51) in the Senate - the process known as 'reconciliation' - despite the fact that a majority of Americans oppose the plan. Democrats appear willing to pass the sweeping healthcare plan even though polls show they could lose their majority rule in the House of Representatives in the November elections. President Obama doesn't seem to care either.

This week, we look at the details of Obama's latest healthcare proposal and ponder why he and the Democrats in Congress believe they are smarter than we Americans are, and why they are willing to risk everything to pass their government-run healthcare plan, when they really should be focused on the economy and creating jobs. And I've got some great poll results on healthcare - such as 57% think it will 'hurt the economy' and 61% want Congress to 'start over' - and a really good editorial at the end.

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Let me state upfront that this is not the easiest to grasp Outside the Box that I have sent you. But if you can get what Rob is saying, you will understand why the problems facing the world, and especially Europe, are so difficult. Everyone cannot export their way out of this crisis. Someone has to actually run a current account (trade) deficit.

My suggestion is that you read this once through, and then read it again. If you see where Rob is going, it makes it easier to understand the second time. Warning: Rob Parenteau is an Austrian economist. In many circles, what he is saying is controversial, if not at least counter-intuitive. But it makes us think, which is the purpose of Outside the Box. If I get a response that is robust and thoughtful, I will run it in the future. The problem that Rob articulates is the center of the problems we face. There are no good or easy choices, as I have been writing for a log time.

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Avon Products is one of the world’s largest manufacturers and marketers of cosmetics, fragrances, skin care, toiletries and fashion accessories. The company earns a return on equity of over 50% and has grown profits and dividends at a 9%+ rate over...

In This Issue..

* Chuck in the Wall Street Journal!
* Feb Job losses -133,000
* Oil pushes Petrol currencies higher...
* Volcker believes euro to stay...

Good day... And a Marvelous Monday to you! Was your weekend grand? The temps were below normal, but the sun filled a blue umbrella sky for most of the weekend, and for that I get a smile on my face... For those of you who don't like me going into personal stuff, and would much rather me stick to the facts, you'll want to skip ahead a few paragraphs, for I've got some very important personal stuff to talk about... If that's you... I'll see you in a bit... Otherwise, for the rest of us... Here goes!

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We are in an era of accelerating change, moving toward a future that will be profoundly different from the past we grew up in. But what will the nature of that change be? What will the future look like? For the last 7 days I have been in an executive program designed by Singularity University (www.singularityu.org) to give some insight into that complex question. We looked at a number of technological fields, lectured by experts assembled to give us some idea as to where current research is and to where it is going. We visited some of the cutting-edge companies here in Silicon Valley.

Just as interesting, I got to visit with 44 of my fellow information seekers from 15 countries and extremely diverse backgrounds, along with a dozen college students, as well as the faculty. The group ranged from very successful entrepreneurs to academics to relatively high-level government workers to starry-eyed young people just starting out. There were a lot more applicants than could be accommodated, and the staff did a good job of choosing a group of people who all 'brought something to the table' besides their entry fee of $15,000. The days were typically 14-15 hours, and there was a lot of discussion amongst us on the topics of the day.

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