Do Popular Investment Writers Outperform The Market?
by Elliott Morss, Morss Global Finance
Introduction
I have always found Paul Samuelson's Ph.D. thesis on how quickly and well the stock market adjusts for new information quite convincing[1]. So it would surprise me to find many economic journalists who outperform the market. Wall Street will pay a lot more for investment gurus than they can ever make in journalism.
Against Marginalist Pricing Theory: US Consumer Prices and Capacity Utilisation
Fixing the Economists Article of the Week
by Philip Pilkington
Marginalist economic theory tells us that when there is unemployment of capital resources prices should fall. Some marginalists like the New Keynesians and the neo-Keynesians will supplement this by saying that prices can tend to be 'sticky'. Let us ignore these for a moment and come back to them in a moment. Let us first take the idea that prices should fall when there is unemployed plant and equipment.
Read more >>
Miracle China boy run over by car stands up walks away
A 6 year old boy survived after being run over in Jining City east China's Shandong Province. The boy was playing at the side of a driveway and a SUV drove over him. Unexpectedly the boy stood up and ran over to the other side of the street
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What We Read Today 24 August 2014
Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary "reading list" which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for "reading list" items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.
- Oil Prices Continue To Decline (Barry Norman, FX Empire) Oil prices returned to their down trend Friday (22 August) after gaining on Thursday. WTI crude oil was down 21 cents to trade at 93.75 while Brent Sea oil was down 18 cents at 102.49 after climbing from the 101 price level on Thursday.
Reshaping Employment Growth
Econintersect: The disappearing middle class has been a topic of much discussion in recent years and a paper presented at Jackson Hole Friday, 22 August has
focused on analysis of this situation. David A. Auter, Professor and Associate Department Head, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the author of Polanyi's Paradox and the Shape of Employment Growth. While much has been made of the loss of jobs to automation and robots, Prof. Auter says that data indicates rather than a loss of jobs occurring, a rearrangement of jobs within the economy is taking place.
La Liga Ratcheted Up Its Transfer Expenditure in 2014
from Felix Richter, Statista.com
by Niall McCarthy
In football, the summer transfer window means big business and by 12 August 2014, Europe's top 5 countries had spent $1.36 billion on player transfers according to FIFA TMS.
Candide
Age of Wisdom, Age of Foolishness (40)
Written by Adam Whitehead, KeySignals.com
'Optimism: the Audacity of Hope.'
As President Obama's political odyssey draws to a close, which is being hastened by those who wish to impeach and/or to sue him, it is time to start thinking about legacies.
Read more >>
The Best Reporting on Federal Push to Militarize Local Police
Special Report from ProPublica
by Hanqing Chen
Protests have continued for more than a week since the fatal police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. Police officers initially met protesters with full riot gear, armored vehicles and assault rifles, escalating tensions and leading Gov. Jay Nixon to replace the St. Louis County Police Department with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, saying the St. Louis suburb looked like "a war zone."
Police advance on a crowd protesting the killing of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Aug. 17, 2014. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Record Low Initial Unemployment Claims Correlate With Looming Stock Market Collapses
by Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner
Contrary to conventional wisdom, extremely low initial unemployment claims have an ominous track record. Since the initial unemployment claims data first set a record low in September 2013, I have pointed out that record low claims suggest a distorted, overheated, bubble top economy. On each occasion over the past 42 years when claims have reached a similar level at this time of year, the stock market has subsequently collapsed within a few months.
End Deflationary Monetary Policies
Negative Real Rates Show Yield Trade in Bubble Territory
by EconMatters, EconMatters.com
No Financial Crisis
This is one of my main criticisms of central bank policy, especially the last three years when there was no financial crisis but all the central banks continued to keep interest rates at recession era levels which has incentivized inappropriate uses of capital allocation, and this money being used for yield arbitrage plays would be more beneficial to sustainable growth projects and overall growth in the economy if interest rates were normalized.
Inflation is Not Prosperity
Chart of the Week 23 August 2014
Written by John O'Donnell, Online Trading Academy
With the Dow Jones Industrial Average at an all-time high in nominal terms, the Friday close of 17,000 was only 12,319 in 2000 dollars. That was barely higher than the 2000 peak for the average of 11,723. When CPI (Consumer Price Index) inflation is taken into account the stocj index has essentially gone nowhere. The effect of inflation is dramatically shown if the value of stocks is compared to a commodity such as gold, which has appreciated far more than inflation over the last 14 years.
The Dow priced in gold is discussed in video following the Read more >> jump.
Trefis: Highlights Week Ending 22 August 2014
Written by Trefis
Below is a summary of the activity at Trefis during the past week that Trefis thought Econintersectreaders would find interesting.
Trefis is a financial community structured around trends, forecasts and insights related to some of the most popular stocks in the US. It provides the unique feature of allowing the user to model future valuation based upon projected changes in components of each business. It also provides communication capabilities among members, including consensus of member analysis compared to Trefis staff analysis and blogging opportunities for members.
Click on graphic for larger image and go to
Trefis interactive page.
Click "Read more..." to see our clickable table of contents with the most covered companies (more than 1 article) of the week identified. This week no company had more than one article.
Infographic of the Day: London - The Billionaire's Playground
London is the bustling metropolis that has grown to become a firm favourite with the world's billionaire club.
There are Over One Million URLs Removal Requests a Day
from Felix Richter, Statista.com
by Mathias Brandt
Google have had 7.8 million URL takedown requests by copyright owners and reporting organizations that represent them in calendar week 33.
