Michael Ashton

E-PIPHANY

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• Flim-Flams Can Work For A While

  Published 20 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  The thin trading conditions continue to lead to wild swings in these last couple of weeks of the year. In some years, markets just float…

• The Inflation Trend Is Not Yet 'Tamed'

  Published 16 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  "Inflation Unlikely to Be a Cause for Concern," expressed the Wall Street Journal today. "The cost of oil, metals, and grains would have to jump…

• The Basket Is On Fire

  Published 14 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Italian yields rose again today. The take-up of the 5-year tap was not awful, but obviously less than what the market was hoping for. Meanwhile,…

• Autopilot Through the Andes

  Published 13 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Tuesday's bright start to equities was tarnished by selling in the last couple of hours. Overnight, the market had moved higher on the usual reasoning…

• Priced For Omnipotent Central Bankers

  Published 12 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  It seems that, over the weekend, some investors had a case of indigestion after the cookie exchange late last week. Moody's did, and announced a…

• Cookies and Zilch

  Published 11 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  One of the frustrations of the Christmas season, for someone trained in basic mathematics, is the tradition of the holiday cookie exchange. In this tradition,…

• Any Fireman Will Do

  Published 09 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Thursday's spotlight turned out not to be on the European summit but on the ECB. As expected, the central bank cut rates 25bps (although some…

• Friendly Takeover

  Published 07 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  And now, for a couple of days, every wiggle in the market will have something to do with the European summit. Rumors and statements and…

• What's This All About?

  Published 05 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  For most of this year, market action has not been about the economic news. It has been about the Fed. It has been about Greece.…

• A Serving of Leftovers

  Published 01 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  The market on Thursday didn't correct from Wednesday's rally. I find this curious, although it may be that longs feel they have some protection from…

• Happy Holidays! From: Your Central Bankers

  Published 01 December 2011 | viewed 0 times

  I don't know whose idea it was, but someone out there is smart enough to push when no one is around to push back. "Dow…

• A Glimmer Of Hope

  Published 29 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Tuesday was a day with quite a bit of news. Some of that news was good. Into that "good" bucket I would put the rise…

• Gravy Train Or Bread Line?

  Published 29 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  There are stories, perhaps apocryphal, about consumers in socialist countries who, coming across a queue, reflexively got on line because there must be something valuable…

• Does Germany Get The Yoke?

  Published 23 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  If you missed Monday's comment, "Door-Buster Deals," you can find it here. . It has been an interesting couple of days, and I suspect I…

• Door-Buster Deals

  Published 21 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Rates markets were relatively quiet today and appear to be running out of gas. The 10-year yield fell below 2% again, to 1.97%, but real…

• The 'Fix' Is In

  Published 20 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Economic data last week was not discouraging. If you want to look backward for comfort, the Retail Sales data was a little stronger-than-expected, along with…

• Bloomberg Radio Appearance

  Published 16 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  A quick note here to let you know I am supposed to be on Bloomberg Radio today, November 16, 2011 at 2:00-2:30ET, on "The Hays…

• Oh, THAT Italy!

  Published 10 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Equity markets today, especially in the U.S. (which fell -3.7%, underperforming many of their European counterparts), seemed suddenly to realize that the news from Monday…

• Little Countries, Little Problems; Big Countries, Big Problems

  Published 08 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  All you really need to know about what's important right now can be summed up in one chart. Well, this doesn't look good. Italian 10-year…

• Eur-eversals

  Published 03 November 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Bonds traded poorly on Thursday, with 10-year yields rising 7bps in both nominal and real space. Commodities traded solidly, with contributions from every sector (energy,…