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Vahan Janjigian (Forbes) submits: Economists sometimes argue that tax rebates can spur economic growth. Furthermore, they say that in order to get the biggest bang for the buck, the money should go to those most likely to spend it. According to conventional wisdom, that would be the poor.Some argue that giving tax dollars to people who haven't actually paid taxes should not be called a tax rebate. Yet even they would agree that lower wealth, lower income individuals are more likely to put this money back into the economy by spending it. Richer people who don't really need the money would probably just end up saving it. That wouldn't do the economy much good in the short term.Complete Story »

Oilprice.com submits: When oil crossed $120 a barrel for the first time in May 2008, oil cornucopians knew they were in trouble. Prices had quadrupled in just five years, yet had failed to bring new production online. Regular crude had flatlined around 74 million barrels per day (mbpd). The case for peak oil was looking stronger with every new uptick in crude futures.The following month, prominent peak oil critic and cornucopian Daniel Yergin of IHS-CERA changed his stance: The peak oil threat would be neutralized by peak demand. Gasoline consumption had peaked in the U.S. and Europe, he argued, due to the combined effects of increasing efficiency, biofuels, and the recession.Complete Story »

Edward Harrison submits:About a month ago I wrote a post called “The coming wave of second mortgage writedowns” the gist of which was that the big four banks (Citi (C), JP (JPM), BofA (BAC), and Wells (WFC)) had a shed load of exposure to now worthless second mortgages. With many first mortgages now hopelessly underwater, it stands to reason that second mortgages on those same properties have zero value.The big four are certainly well aware of this problem and are looking for ways to extend the wherewithal of underwater borrowers and pretend they don’t need to take losses on these loans. On paper, these companies are very well capitalized. However, in the real world, the likely losses they must eventually take on loans already on their books would probably render them insolvent. This is what I hinted yesterday in my post on the stress tests.Complete Story »

Tom Schumacher submits:A recent Gallup survey provides more evidence that frugality is setting in depsite an optimistic outlook from the Street on consumer discretionary spending. Spending in Upper Income households, those making more than $90,000 a year, has fallen 13% from January and 19% from a year ago. The data suggests a continuing trend in Upper income households, one of frugality. For a sustained recovery in consumer spending, this particular subset of the consumer is very imporatnt. They have disposable income and credit availbitily. It seems very unlikely that a sustained recovery in consumer spending, and by extention, a truely sustainable economic recovery, will happen without the group spending more. This should be a monthly survey to keep an eye on. Looking at this data, one might start to question the enourmous rally that has taken place in consumer discretionary ETFs like XRT. Complete Story »

Jamba, Inc. (JMBA)
Q4 2009 Earnings Call
March 9, 2010 5:00 pm ETComplete Story »

Wall Street Strategies submits:The lack of volume speaks volumes, but what is it saying? Volume is used as a measure of conviction but the fact is that this magnificent rally has occurred on a complete lack of conviction. It doesn't mean the rally is smoke and mirrors, and it doesn't change the great fortunes of those that have participated. But I wouldn't argue with anyone that says the rally is suspect. This rally is suspect, and that is where the volume comes in as a measuring tool. The economy continues to slump as the powers that be don't appear to have a clue. At the end of recent recessions the stock market continued to falter and the recoveries occurred at a faster pace back then. In addition to punk job growth the chorus for massive declines in commercial real estate grows each day. Complete Story »

Clemens Kownatzki submits: One year ago, it seemed like the financial world would fall into the abyss. One trading session after the S&P 500 hit the eerie low of 666.79, the MSCI's all-country world stock index hit its low on March 9, 2009. That painful day must still be fresh in everybody’s mind. But since then, the world index is up about 73% and the S&P500 gained almost 70%. The performance of the remaining major global stock indices since then has been equally impressive with returns ranging from 43% (China) to almost 110% (India) - see chart below. Complete Story »

Edward Harrison submits:This is the fifth in a series of posts about ideas for financial reform generated by the “Make Markets Be Markets” conference I attended yesterday in New York City on 3 Mar 2010. You can download all of the written presentations here.Let’s talk about regulatory capture and financial reform for a few minutes. Arnold Kling has an interesting take on last week’s conference. He wasn’t there, but did see the videos online. In a recent post, he says:Complete Story »

Value Expectations submits: By John Tamny, Toreador Research and Trading (Guest Contributor) A popular belief among the economic commentariat today is that the mere existence of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. represents "moral hazard." With bank deposits insured, the common thought is that bank executives feel more comfortable taking massive risks because their losses will be covered by the taxpayer.Complete Story »

In my February 19th blog: “How to lose a lot of money in the market,” we looked at how investing in companies that are the target of unsolicited takeovers could be detrimental to the health of one’s portfolio. To illustrate this point I chose scientific equipment maker Zygo (NASDAQ: ZIGO) as my posterchild.A brief history of the proposed merger Briefly, II-VI (Nasdaq: IIVI) made an unsolicited offer for Zygo in January for $10 per share, well over the current $7 per share price. Hoping for a bidding war, investors were willing to pay up to $11 for the stock, but Zygo’s board threw cold water on that notion by rejecting the deal. The stock instantly shed a buck in value.Complete Story »