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The Independent Investor: What the Markets Missed
Bill Schmick,
10:49PM / Thursday, September 22, 2011

As disappointed global stock markets plummet in response to the Federal Reserve's latest stimulus initiative, few investors are paying attention to what may be the Fed's real intention behind this new plan: mortgage refinancing.

For the longest time, I have been convinced that the housing market holds the key to economic growth (or lack of it) in the U.S. As such, I have been hoping against hope that one or more of a long line of presidential candidates would actually have the courage and intellect to recognize and address our main problem.

Instead, I hear how "we need to get America back to work" or "we need to roll back all these regulations that are preventing

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The Independent Investor: Deja Vu
Bill Schmick,
08:20PM / Friday, September 16, 2011

"U.S. stocks opened higher Thursday as the Federal Reserve and four of the world's other major central banks agreed to make U.S. dollars more readily available in Europe's struggling financial system."

" ... Early Thursday, investors welcomed the news that the Fed — along with the central banks of England, Switzerland, Japan and the euro zone — is coordinating a program to boost dollar liquidity in the region."

The markets are climbing in celebration that the central banks of the world are combining and coordinating their immense financial

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@theMarket: Fed Passes the Ball to Congress
Bill Schmick,
01:03PM / Saturday, August 27, 2011

By now everyone knows the outcome of Ben Bernanke's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday. For those looking for a cure-all from the chairman of the Federal Reserve, his speech was a disappointment.

Overall, the markets were not nearly as disappointed as one might imagine. I suspect the smart money (see Thursday's column "Can the Fed Save the Markets") was not expecting much in the way of new programs. Of course, Chairman Bernanke promised to take another look at the economy on Sept. 20, when next the FOMC meets, but don't hold your breath.

Although the Fed still has some tools it could use if necessary, the Fed is not omnipotent when it comes to stimulating the economy. There

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Independent Investor: Can the Fed Avert Another Selloff?
Bill Schmick,
11:23PM / Thursday, August 25, 2011

The safe bet would be to write about something else because by the time you read this Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke will have already given his speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo., scheduled for Friday morning. I'm betting that whatever he says won't be enough to save the stock market from further decline.

The stock market has been climbing over the last week in anticipation that the Federal Reserve will, like last year, announce another monetary stimulus program similar to QE II. There are several problems in betting on that outcome in my opinion.

No. 1 is investor's knee-jerk expectation that the government will save the stock market every time we have a selloff of 10 percent

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