Hot New Trades, Debtor’s Revolt and More

Sorry for the late post, but I had to send out new trades to Red-Hot Global Small-Caps and Red-Hot Commodity ETFs. If you’re a subscriber to either service, check your inbox.

Gold is flat today even as the dollar continues to slide. Is this telling us something? Damned if I know. Silver continues to outperform, and crude oil is heating up again.

Here’s what I’m watching/reading today …

The first shot in the Debtor’s Revolt.

Somehow, I don’t think it will be the last. This could end with heads on pikes.

Barry Rithholz makes a great point:

There was widespread popular support for a full reform of finance. What the White House should have pursued was: 1) Reinstatement of Glass Steagall; 2) Repeal the Commodity Futures Modernization Act; 3) Overturning SEC Bear Stearn exemption allowing 5 biggest firms to leverage up far beyond 12 to one; 4) Regulating the non bank sub-prime lenders; 5) Continuing high risk trades to be compensated regardless of profitibility; 6)　 Mandating (and enforcing) lending standards, etc.

All of this could have been accomplished in the first 6 months of the Obama administration. The consumer protection stuff could have been tossed in as well, though it was not the cause of the collapse.

What we got instead, was the usual lobbying efforts by the finance industry. They own Congress, lock stock and barrel, and they throttled Financial Reform. It did not help that the Obama economic team is filled with defenders of the Status Quo — primarily Summers, but it appears Geithner also — the dynamic duo that fiddled while the economy burned.

Jim Cramer gives us Six Reasons Why The S&P Will Top 1200. Damn. I’ve been predicting the S&P 500 will hit 1,200 when the topic comes up at our analyst meetings. It seems painfully obvious I should not be on the same side of the fence as Jim “conventional wisdom” Cramer. I need to go back and check my math.Note: The S&P 500 can go higher even if the employment picture doesn’t improve. That should be painfully obvious as well. 

The Wall Street Journel tells us that Gold-Backed ETF Enters Fray in US. This will be the third US gold ETF, along with the (GLD: 107.95 -0.65 -0.60%) and the (IAU: 108.05 -0.59 -0.54%). The new fund offers a slightly lower expense ratio of 0.39% than its U.S. rivals, both running at 0.4%.

Here’s a damned good question. I find myself shouting it at my TV on most nights when I’m dumb enough to turn on the idiot box.

Related Posts

• Debtor Revolt Update (01/05/10)
• The Debtor Revolution Gathers Momentum (12/20/09)