Insights
Mon 6/4/12 2:24 PM – Likelihood of Big S-T Move in Stocks
Stocks have sold off pretty hard since their peak on May 1 and are down roughly 10% on the major indexes. Interestingly, small stocks and Nasdaq stocks, normally a good bit more volatile have not lost significantly more than large stocks. The Stoxx 50 European index...
Fri 6/1/12 1:44 PM – Record Low Mortgage Rates
One of the bright spots in this economic turmoil is how much it has lowered interest rates. If you have not refinanced your mortgage lately you should take a look. Current 15 year mortgage rate average - 2.75% Current 30 year mortgage rate average - 3.75% These rates...
Fri 6/1/12 9:46 AM – Bad Jobs Report, China Slowing
Not a good day for stocks. Europe is down 1.2% - 3.0% today and the US dropped 1.5% when it opened in New York. The jobs report was just terrible. Only 69,000 new jobs were created last month. It takes nearly 100,000 new jobs just to absorb immigration, people turning...
Thu 5/31/12 4:30 PM – Correction
I had incorrectly written earlier today that European banks that had bought sovereign debt in their country, due in large part to the carrot and stick incentives of the European Central Bank (ECB) as well as politicans in their country and which are now seeing the...
Thu 5/31/12 11:37 AM – Economic News Today
We had a fair amount of US economic news today, all of it confirming a slight slowdown in the economy. The estimate of 1Q/2012 GDP growth was revised down from 2.1% to 1.9% First time claims for unemployment rose slightly, the 7th time in the last 8 weeks The estimate...
Thu 5/31/12 11:27 AM – Cost of a Spanish Bank Bailout
The NY Times today put the total cost of bailing out Spanish banks at a total of $620 billion over several years. The bailout fund (European Stability Mechanism) which is scheduled to start up this summer has $867 billion in it. So, a bank bailout is do-able but of...
Wed 5/30/12 1:115 PM – Will There be a Run on Some European Banks?
Greece is in really serious trouble. With elections just 18 days away the anti-austerity party and the pro-austerity party are neck and neck in the polls. Without austerity measures the Germans have said there will be no more bailout money. The German stance is...
Wed 5/30/12 8:39 AM – Greek, Spanish Woes Increase
Interest rates on Spain's 10 year bond rose to 6.6% today, close to the 7% seen as a tipping point. Rates on Italy's equivalent bond rose above 6%. Meanwhile, it was reported that the Spanish economy shrank again in the 1Q, unemployment is at 25% and talk continues...
Tue 5/29/12 – Apologetics Q&A with Students at Central Church of God
I will be fielding questions from the high school and college kids at Central Church of God regarding the truth and rationality of the Christian faith Wednesday evening between 7:00 and 8:00 PM in the Youth Building. Anyone is welcome to join us. Dave Whisler and...
Tue 5/29/12 4:51 PM – Reversal or Bump?
There is a lot of bad news out there and plenty of belief that worse is yet to come regarding Euroe, particularly Spain and Greece. Spain's banking worries are really rising and it will likely have to dump tens of billions into them to prop them up, something that...
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