By: Axel Merk and Yuan Fang, Merk Investments The concern over rising interest rates has become a primary issue with investors. While few assets are immuneto rising rates the bond market may be particularly vulnerable. The headwinds may be exacerbated by changing fundamentals in the U.S. bond market, specifically growing concentration, extended duration and changing […]
Confidence In Central Banks Collapsing – The Next Financial Crisis Could Spin Out Of Control
June 26, 2013 Leave a Comment
In response to the financial crisis, massive debt burdens and slow economic growth since 2008, the world’s central banks have engaged in unprecedented monetary intervention. Short term interest rates have been suppressed by to levels barely above zero and central banks have purchased trillions of dollars of government debt securities to finance governments already staggering […]
Bonds Are Crashing – Where Can An Investor Hide?
June 19, 2013 Leave a Comment
By Axel Merk Induced by “taper talk,” volatility in the bond market has been surging of late. Is there a bond bubble? Is it bursting? And if so, what are investors to do, as complacency might be financially hazardous. Bond bubble indicator on red alert Our internal best bubble indicator is triggered when an asset, […]
Chinese Stock Market Collapses 67% Despite Massive Stimulus Programs
December 12, 2012 Leave a Comment
The debate over whether or not government stimulus spending (financed by borrowing) is effective in reviving post crash economies rages on in the U.S. Despite the anemic economic recovery, proponents of deficit spending postulate that things would have been much worse without it. Opponents of massive deficit spending insist that the problems are merely being […]
The Dow Has Soared 100% Since 2009 – What’s Next?
November 28, 2012 Leave a Comment
Since the depths of the financial crisis in early 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has soared 105%, rising from 6,627 on March 2, 2009 to a recent high of 13,610 on October 1, 2012. At the bottom in early 2009, most investors were contemplating the collapse of the entire U.S. financial system and the […]
The Entire Eurozone Has Entered The Dark World Of Economic Depression
November 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
Both governments and banks are insolvent across Europe. The only finger in the dike that is preventing a broad economic collapse is the rampant printing of money by the European Central Bank. Unfortunately, printing money has never resulted in economic prosperity, it simply delays the final collapse of insolvent governments. Depression levels of unemployment throughout […]
Debt Settlement Firms Often Put Consumers In Worse Position
October 27, 2012 Leave a Comment
It seems so compelling – make a simple phone call and a debt settlement company will take it from there by negotiating down your debts and making you debt free in just a couple of years. Most consumers, at their own peril, never seem able to remember the maxim that “if it sounds too good […]
Crashing Chinese Stock Market Is A Red Flag For World Economy
August 18, 2012 Leave a Comment
While the Dow Jones Industrial Average approaches all time highs, the Chinese stock market is flashing a bright red warning signal about the world economy. Since China is the world’s second largest economy after the United States, a recession in China is almost certain to negatively impact the global economy. One look at the iShares […]
It’s The Debt Stupid – Economic Growth Is Suffocated By Excessive Government Borrowing
July 20, 2012 Leave a Comment
Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, in their best selling book, This Time Is Different, have examined sovereign debt defaults over the past eight centuries from around the globe. Based on their in depth analytical studies, the authors conclude that large scale financial crises such as 2008 inevitably lead to ruinous increases in government borrowing and […]
The Debt Bomb – Has Saving Us Today Destroyed Our Future?
May 18, 2009 Leave a Comment
Can debt create prosperity? A common question asked these days is, if too much debt caused the financial crisis, how can more debt solve the problem? Most American families know that their basic problem is too little income and too much debt. Common sense tells us that unless debt is balanced by inceasing income to […]