Salient to Investors: Damien Courvalin and Alec Phillips at Goldman Sachs said gold will climb to $1,825 in 3 months – consistent with rallies into debt-ceiling decisions – and then decline in half2 2013 as the US economy rebounds. Tom Kendall at Credit Suisse expects lower prices in half2 as the U.S. recovers and fear trades fade. Allan Hochreiter said
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Sy Harding says we are in the 8th inning of economic recovery. The economy and stock market face one more setback, created by the belt-tightening austerity measures necessary to bring down the record government debt level. The next set-back won’t be as severe, in part due to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gold looks poor technically but its fundamentals of robust investment and central bank demand remain intact. Gold will be supported by the US political standoff about the debt ceiling and expectations of continual quantitative easing. A lack of trust regarding central bank gold reserves could lead to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Nicholas Pardini at Nomadic Capital Partners writes: US and European stocks are no longer the safest bets. Investors should expect subpar real returns from the US economy and positive long run returns from emerging markets. The biggest economic trend of the 21st century is the global convergence of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: 5-yr inflation is at 1.9% annual, its lowest since the 1960s. The Atlanta Fed sees a 6% probability that the CPI for April 2017 will be lower than the CPI for April 2012. Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlatoka said inflation will run below the Fed’s target of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Economics Fanatic writes: The top 100 banks in the U.S. had an 88% market share in Q3 2012 versus 84% in 2010 – if this trend continues, the next banking crisis will be bigger than the 2008-09 crisis. Excessive risk taking is predominant in these institutions. Regulators
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: George Russell at Franklin Equity cut its holdings of Apple to 4.2 percent at the end of 2012 from 7 percent in 2011, saying it lacks a strategy to sell cheaper smartphones in emerging markets such as China and India, with the US market saturated. Russell said Apple hasn’t disclosed a low-end phone market
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: RealtyTrac said Florida had the biggest increase in home seizures in 2012, and the highest foreclosure rate – 1 in every 32 Florida households received a notice of default, auction or repossession versus 1 in 72 for the nation. Robert Tayon at Barclays said Arizona dealt with their problems, whereas
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Laurence Fink at BlackRock said investors will continue to put money into passive stock products rather than active funds as they get back into equities. Fink expects the economy to pick up in half2 2013. US stock mutual funds attracted $14.8 billion in new money last week, the most
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Enthusiasm for speculative-grade bonds is at unprecedented levels – a Credit Suisse index is at a record-low 5.9 percent. Kansas City Fed President Esther George said prices of assets such as bonds, agricultural land, and high-yield and leveraged loans are at historically high levels. Drew Matus at UBS Securities said
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