This feed contains opinions on investing and the U.S. economy written by Greg Crawford, owner of Crawford Financial Planning. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:16:43 -0700 Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:15:34 -0700 FeedForAll v2.0 (2.0.2.9) http://www.feedforall.com With last week’s rally the stock market has now been trading sideways for the past 8 weeks and is now testing a key level of resistance, the 200-day moving average (200MA). http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 93DA73CA-8032-478D-BEDC-B2AEB39FEECC Mon, 26 Jul 2010 10:15:34 -0700 Factories slow down, deflation replaces inflation, and consumer sentiment weakens... http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 9A93F675-C6DA-4789-9548-5B6B0DD9CF68 Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:03:58 -0700 Following weeks of selling the stock market rallied last week to relieve a deeply oversold condition; this is known as a counter-trend rally. The rally is likely to end this week but could be extended a bit further if corporate earnings come in stronger than expected. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 508EE748-D2A3-4B7B-B671-BEC0790E5AE7 Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:06:55 -0700 Analysts were looking for anywhere from 50,000 jobs gained in June to a loss of over 100,000 - when the final tally was complete, we found that 125,000 net jobs were lost in June. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html B2F79DC3-1BE6-41C0-A992-B7C568DFB67E Tue, 6 Jul 2010 16:02:08 -0700 Economists for months have been warning of a possible dip in the economy as a year of federal stimulus programs begin to expire; the media is now picking up on the story. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 41124A38-6E26-40BD-9A65-2D80956D1551 Mon, 28 Jun 2010 15:59:11 -0700 Last week we saw a resilient stock market hold firmly in the face of disappointing economic news; today was different. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 7A934BA4-797B-4CB9-A424-B17FC1A6A403 Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:10:01 -0700 For the first time in weeks stock markets around the world found a footing late this week on news that China’s economic growth may soften the blow of the European Union’s possible collapse. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 9C2099D1-E777-4502-BE05-D5992EB657B8 Sat, 12 Jun 2010 16:13:18 -0700 New speculation of a “Greek-style financial crisis” in Hungary combined with disappointing news on the US employment front was too much for stocks, sending the Dow and the S&P 500 sharply into correction territory. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html EA2E591E-31B8-4FF8-888D-FB19A15E9746 Mon, 7 Jun 2010 17:32:43 -0700 For just the sixth day in the past month stocks closed higher today with the Dow posting a 225 point gain ending the day at 10,249. The market moved higher after hearing that the National Association of Realtors announced that their Pending Home Sales Index rose last month. Technical analysts could see today’s action in the market as a counter-trend rally within a correction to lower stock prices. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html CD57C14F-6DA4-474B-9AA0-A8C4BB4195C6 Wed, 2 Jun 2010 16:24:41 -0700 For months we’ve been talking about the developing sovereign-debt crisis in Europe and the fallacy of a “jobless recovery” as the stock market had continued to climb higher on its sugar high from Washington’s liquidity injections. It now appears that the stock market is beginning to equilibrate with the realities of Main Street. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html DCEAD075-62F4-4213-8589-60A0CBF0F19A Fri, 21 May 2010 09:48:49 -0700 A year ago we in the U.S. were circling the wagons to bail out systemically important companies of ours that were drowning in debt (e.g. AIG, GM, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the “Wall Street banks”). These institutions were collapsing under the weight of expanding debt amid falling asset prices. The problem has since grown to gigantic proportions as we now attempt to bail out entire countries from their debt problems. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 7590CBEF-E771-459C-9524-2005ED61C63E Mon, 10 May 2010 15:13:31 -0700 The honeymoon for Greece following the European Union and IMF’s agreement to a three-year $145 billion bailout lasted only one day. Last night Greek bonds fell once again... http://crawfordfp.com/week.html EF930A55-E06F-46D7-915A-E72CB38B28C4 Tue, 4 May 2010 16:12:16 -0700 Stocks here in the U.S. staged a minor comeback from yesterday’s selloff. The financial sector lead today’s 53-point rise in the Dow as a relief rally of sorts came on the close of the congressional testimony of mega-giant investment bank, Goldman Sachs. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html E0686D2F-2AE5-49B9-A27B-71B07DC959D9 Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:39:51 -0700 Over the weekend, finance ministers of the Eurozone agreed on a €30B loan package to Greece to be used in the event that Greece fails to be able to raise sufficient capital in the open market. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 64D491B9-97D9-4719-B09C-D8C8AAE23E5B Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:42:54 -0700 Now that Washington is retracting the stimulus it flooded the system with, the question of the day is... "Is this a bull market or a bear-market rally for stocks?" It remains a bear-market rally. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 13ED4ECB-13CB-44B0-8D46-947DB17689A9 Thu, 8 Apr 2010 15:36:30 -0700 A bear-market rally is a strong, unsustainable rally that follows a major drop in stock market levels before fundamental economic improvement is reasonably expected. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 2467D361-CCB5-4C24-B64B-49CB87E298AF Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:58:09 -0700 U.S. stocks have quietly risen in 10 of the last 11 trading sessions and have worked their way just above the mid-January recovery high, yet the market is not going anywhere fast. Trading volume is very light, signaling that many investors remain on the sidelines. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html BF6C3164-8E48-4348-932C-6E265B38F98A Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:35:51 -0700 Stocks were slightly higher last week as were bond fund prices. Here are some highlights... http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 176EE8D9-85AB-4B36-9ADA-AE2732AFDD74 Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:38:15 -0700 Some of TV’s more popular talking heads are now giving air-time to the question, "Is the economy headed for a double-dip?" We have been talking about a double-dip in the economy for some months now. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html D0FAEE27-E927-41EB-A556-4824A3E49DF6 Mon, 8 Mar 2010 14:01:22 -0800 It was a tough week for economists to find bright spots. Fed chief Ben Bernanke set the tone on Wednesday when testifying before the House Financial Services Committee. He told the committee that the U.S. economy is in a "nascent" recovery and that interest rates near zero are still required. This was followed by the release of some troublesome economic data that was consistent with his outlook. http://crawfordfp.com/week.html 0E7FEC16-FFE0-4CB8-AA29-C981AE708104 Thu, 4 Mar 2010 09:56:46 -0800