The recent LIBOR scandal is another serious blow to the reputation of the banking industry… assuming banks have any credibility left. The last several years are littered with examples of extremely bad press for banks. From the 2008 banking crisis to billions of dollars in losses from bad trades, the list is getting longer by [...]
I recently read a fascinating article by Nassim Taleb. In case you’re not familiar with Taleb, he’s the author of The Black Swan, a book about the extreme impact of rare and unpredictable events. The book became famous due to the Financial Crisis of 2008. Taleb essentially laid out how banks were going to screw [...]
Recently, I had a long conversation with a close friend who used to work at Charles Schwab (SCHW). Today, Schwab is one of the nation’s largest brokerage, banking, and asset management firms. In fact, they currently hold over $1.4 trillion dollars of client assets. But as the story continued, I shook my head as I [...]
Over the past several years, our economy has really changed. Unemployment is at all time highs and incomes are down… forcing struggling consumers to borrow more than ever. But because of credit tightening in the financial markets, bank loans have become almost impossible to get. Easy to get loans have evaporated forever. So how can consumers [...]
I always keep a close eye on the real estate market. It’s a prime indicator of how our economy’s really doing. And last week, we got some disappointing news from Zillow. Home prices fell 3% in the first quarter, the biggest decline since 2008. The recession just keeps grinding along. But we repeatedly hear the [...]
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Is Another Recession Coming?
Last week, I wrote about QE3 and its potential impact on the market. If the Fed announces another round of stimulus at this week’s FOMC meeting, stocks could be off to the races. I also mentioned a European bank/government rescue plan as another major catalyst for a stock market rally. Sure enough, right after I [...]