Salient to Investors: The U.S., Europe and allies are willing to suffer higher fuel costs in order to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Oil is set to recover from its worst quarter since 2008 as a EU ban on Iranian oil takes effect, central banks act to protect growth, and on speculation OPEC
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: China’s Shanghai Composite Index erased its 2012 gain on concern a manufacturing slump and Europe will deepen the economic slowdown. Wu Kan at Dazhong Insurance Co said the Chinese economy is still slowing and earnings growth forecasts have further room to fall, and investors have no idea how slow earnings
READ MORE... →Predictions: Bill Gross said: It will take economies and financial markets decades to normalize after the debt crisis, keeping U.S. securities the safest bet for investors. This is an authentic debt crisis and can only be ultimately cured by default or printing more money to inflate it away. A debt crisis can’t be cured with more debt
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Heat wave that set or tied 196 daily temperature records yesterday moves east, promising to raise energy demand. MDA EarthSat Weather expects July to be one of the five warmest since 1950 in the large cities that use the most energy. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-28/u-s-weather-promises-energy-boost-as-temperatures-rise.html
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Kurt Brunner at Swarthmore Group said Europe is not going away for the next three years. U.S. executives are tapping into their record pile of cash for the first time in four years as they drive spending on plants and equipment to an all-time high. David Sowerby at Loomis Sayles
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: A record 7.3 million workers 65 or older are competing for jobs. Joblessness among 16 to 24-year-olds was 16.1 percent in May, versus 8.2 percent rate for the nation. Payrolls in May grew at the slowest pace in a year and joblessness has topped 8 percent for 40 consecutive
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Takuji Aida at UBS warned that a higher sales tax could bring the Japanese economy to a grinding halt in 2014 when the first increase will take effect. He raised his growth forecast for the year ending March 2014 to 2.9 percent from 2.2 percent on a $50.4 billion rise in consumption
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Wall Street has decided overwhelmingly to back Romney versus four years when it was among Obama’s biggest backers. Anthony Scaramucci at SkyBridge Capitalsaid we should be a country based on class movement, not class warfare. Stan Collender at Qorvis Communications said a President Romney would have the same kind of problems that Obama has had, and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Michael Price at MFP Investors said five of the six biggest U.S. banks are selling at or below tangible book value, meaning the pieces are worth more than the whole, including some wonderful assets. Bank of America has traded below book value since 2009, Citigroup since 2010. Ken Fisher at Fisher Investments, underweight bank stocks
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Peter Orszag at Citigroup said well under 0.1 percent of cars and trucks in the U.S. run on natural gas versus seventy-five percent in Armenia. More natural-gas cars and trucks could reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and other pollutants. There are fewer than 2,000 natural-gas filling stations in the
READ MORE... →