MEMBER SIGN IN
Not a member? Become one today!
         iBerkshires     Berkshire Chamber     Berkshire Community College     City of Pittsfield    
Search
Home About Archives RSS Feed
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

0 Comments
Read More >>

Independent Investor: Europe's Banking Crisis
Bill Schmick,
09:21PM / Thursday, August 18, 2011

Investors are selling first and waiting for the facts later. Few can blame them given their experience in 2008-2009. Investors in the stock market sustained huge losses by naively believing that the financial sector and the government were in control of that crisis. This time around, no one believes anything they say.

The problem is compounded by the fact that this financial crisis is located in Europe where different rules apply, where the political and financial systems are different and where even the time zones play a part. Wednesday's panicked selloff was largely a result of a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal that revealed that the Federal Reserve Bank is scrutinizing the

0 Comments
Read More >>

@theMarket: One Down, One to Go
Bill Schmick,
01:26PM / Saturday, July 23, 2011

On Friday, the European Union announced a new $157 billion bailout plan for Greece. The scope of the plan went much further than most investors expected. It promised to finance all countries that need bailouts for as long as it takes for them to recover. There's more.

I refer to the new plan as the "Full Monty" (see my column "Europe Goes the Full Monty") because it is the first time in the 18-month long crisis that European leaders were willing to draft a comprehensive approach to the financial crisis among the PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain).  The plan will be proactive in heading off any further financial contagion among its members while fencing in

0 Comments
Read More >>

Independent Investor: Europe Goes the Full Monty
Bill Schmick,
11:24PM / Thursday, July 21, 2011

Full Monty: "everything which is necessary, appropriate, or possible; 'the works.'"    

A new rescue plan for Greece is being hammered out in Brussels today, Thursday. Although the details are yet to be released, it appears that the European Community is finally going for an overall plan that will do more than just Band-Aid over the debt crisis of southern Europe.

Greece, of course, is the bad boy of that continent but Ireland, Portugal and even larger economies like Spain and Italy are being added to the list of troubled nations. Up until now, the EU has grudgingly

0 Comments
Read More >>

@theMarket: Greece — How To Default Without Defaulting
Bill Schmick,
12:47PM / Saturday, June 18, 2011

The European Community's solution to the Greek debt crisis has been an exercise in kicking the can down the road for well over two years. Unfortunately, this Greek Tragedy is now taking on the dimensions of a three-ring circus and taking the world's financial markets along with it.

This week, the volatility in the stock markets was reminiscent of the bad old days of 2008-2009. The on-again, off-again status of Greece's promised next installment of last year's bailout package was the chief cause of concern. The money was promised to Greece, if it cut the country's deficit of $40 billion. So far that hasn't happened. The Greek population has taken to the streets once again to prevent the

0 Comments
Read More >>

Pittsfield.com is owned and operated by: Boxcar Media 106 Main Sreet, P.O. Box 1787 North Adams, MA 01247 -- T. 413-663-3384 F.413-663-3615
© 2008 Boxcar Media LLC - All rights reserved