Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: The theory that “we fight them there so we don’t have to fight them here” is still wrong and would commit the US to a fool’s errand for decades. Cherif Kouachi, one of the Paris terrorists, testified that it was American intervention in the Middle East
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria writes: Hong Kong is far richer than the rest of China and a window into the country’s future. The rise in US oil and gas production along with the slowing Chinese growth and appetite – a 0% increase in oil demand in 2014 versus 7% annual
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Strategists expect the euro to decline to $1.18 by the end of 2015. Over 90% of respondents surveyed in December predict the ECB will expand the supply of euros by purchasing sovereign bonds in 2015, versus 57% in November. 44 of 59 analysts expect the euro to fall against the dollar – the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: David Stockman writes: Emerge Energy Services’s parabolic rise from its IPO and absurd valuation demonstrates the momo play by robots, day traders and flavor-of-the-month hedge funds in a stock market that has been destroyed by the Fed. Emerge is a poster boy for the irrational exuberance that has become institutionalized
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria writes: New studies suggest that American innovation is in trouble and that the glittering examples of Facebook et al are deceptive. We are eating the seed corn and not laying the groundwork for the next great tech revolutions. Silicon Valley’s roots are deeply tied to government
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Sarah Ketterer at at Causeway Capital Mgmt said: Buying energy stocks very incrementally as oil prices eventually reach a floor and rise again but no idea when. Looks for companies with tremendous financial strength that can continue to pay dividends. Smart companies will use their balance sheet strength to buy
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The median Wall Street forecast predicts the 10-yr T-yield to rise to 3.01% by the end of 2015, the 2-yr to rise more than double to 1.53%, and the 30-yr to rise to 3.70%. Wall Street calls for higher T-yields in 2015 are the most aggressive since 2009,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: Movie studios and theaters have made a mistake in not affirming freedom of expression regarding the movie “The Interview”. In the late 1930s, the UK wanted to ban distribution of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” to appease Nazi Germany. Obama’s strategy of pressuring Russia and making
READ MORE... →Fareed Zakaria said: It is the big, contentious democracies, Britain and the US, that have prevailed in the world, not Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and the Soviet Union. No organization has ever benefited from being able to be the sole judge of its own performance. Ruchir Sharma at Morgan Stanley said:
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The National Assn of State Budget Officers said: US states reduced taxes and fees this year by $2.3 billion, the deepest cut since F2001. By the close of 2014 state spending will be 9.4 % above the peaks reached before the full brunt of the recession. Just 12
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