The October employment report came in weaker than expected as the country lost 190,000 jobs, rather than the 175,000 expectation. It was, however, an improvement over the 219,000 lost in September, but worse than the 154,000 jobs lost in August. Both the September and August job losses were revised sharply lower. As of last month it was thought that we lost 263,000 jobs in September and 201,000 in August. So in that context, missing expectations for October by 15,000 does not seem that bad. Of course, it is bad if you happen to be one of those losing your job. Based on the establishment survey we have now lost 7.3 million jobs since the recession started.

In general though, the pace of job losses has been slowing, especially if you step back and look at the big picture. Over the last three months, the economy has been dropping an average of

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The inflation/deflation debate is hot… It crackles and pops like a pine fire. But it gives off little helpful light. Abe Lincoln may have read by the light of an open fire. But when we tried it, we singed our eyebrows. It made us suspicious of Old Abe; maybe he wasn’t quite as truthful as he pretended to be. Later, we realized he was a mountebank. But that’s another story…

Today, we light a candle and try to interpret the shadows on the wall…

Yesterday, the Dow fell 81 points. Gold dropped $5 to $1009.

Will the feds succeed in causing inflation? Or will they fail? Will the dollar continue to go down? Or will it prove to be a safe haven currency in a time of deflationary trouble?

According to the papers, the feds have already done it. “Fed says recovery underway,” says a headline from yesterday’s press.

Another headline tells us that

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Currencies back off gains…Administration slaps tariff on China…And Yen rallies…Quotes from Davos…And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Good day… And a Marvelous Monday to you! I hope your weekend was grand… I was supposed to be traveling back from Williamsburg today, so this is a bonus day for you all! HA! On Friday morning, I told the early arrivers that the currencies were strong, Gold was strong, it was all good, and we needed to close up shop and go home, because it wasn’t going to get an better than that, and that the rest of the day had nothing but disappointment risk! Boy did I nail that one on the head! Let’s get to the goings on.

The currencies added to their gains during the Friday morning, only to see them give the gains back later in the day, as the “boys” in NY all closed shop and headed to the Hamptons. I

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Everyone was shocked when GM took a gigantic government bailout. What was equally shocking to me was to see GM claim that in 2010, they would have a car capable of 230 mpg. Well, as we all know everything is not always as it seems. When I came across this article by Adrian Veidt, Senior Editor of Casey’s Extraordinary Technology I thought I would share it with you and get your take. The auto industry is changing, will GM be able to finally make the changes it needs to?

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A few weeks ago, Government Motors dropped a public relations bomb when new chief Fritz Henderson announced that the forthcoming Chevy Volt would get an astonishing 230 miles per gallon (that’s 98 kilometers per liter, for our metric-system friends).

For those of you not yet familiar, the Volt is a plug-in hybrid car. The car runs primarily on electric power, with

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PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

PennyOmega.com Hot Stock News & Alerts!

 

Tuesday August 4, 2009

PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

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Micromet, Inc. (Nasdaq: MITI), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases, today announced the closing of its previously announced public offering of 14,000,000 shares of common stock. Micromet also announced that the underwriters for the offering have exercised in full their over-allotment option to purchase an additional 2,100,000 shares, bringing the total shares sold to 16,100,000 at a price of $5.00 per share for gross proceeds of $80.5 million. The Company received net proceeds of approximately $75.0 million, after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses.

The Board of Directors of

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We decided that it was worth sharing our views of the inflation/deflation debate with all of our readers.  In our weekly newsletter we are already positioned to take advantage of some of the current as well as potential trends that will benefit from our scenario.

The following are our views on different parts of the puzzle that show that we are currently in, and will likely be experiencing deflation for longer then most people seem to think.

Savings-

Here are some interesting, and unfortunately not surprising, savings rate numbers.  The current savings rate is 5.7%, the all time high in 5/1/75 was 14.6%, the all time low was in 8/1/05 with a savings rate of -2.7%, the historical average is 6.8%, and the 10-Year average is 1.7%.  As you can see in the chart the past year has seen a huge uptick in the savings rate as consumers are

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There are all sorts of catalysts that could send oil prices even higher. We are getting just a small dose of the action today and energy-related stocks are surging.

It must feel good to be part of OPEC these days. Now that the threat of $30 per oil is clearly in the past, the oil cartel is regaining some of the power it so quickly lost last fall.

The group of oil producers continues to claim $75 per barrel is its target price for crude, calling it “fair” for everybody involved. Who is to debate what is arguably the most powerful group of countries on the planet?

What OPEC wants, it gets. What are the alternatives? Wind, solar, tides? Doubt it.

As an oil-burning American with a propensity to drop a few Franklins into the gas tank on a weekend adventure, the thought of oil climbing to the cartel’s target range is frightening.

But

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There are all sorts of catalysts that could send oil prices even higher. We are getting just a small dose of the action today and energy-related stocks are surging.

It must feel good to be part of OPEC these days. Now that the threat of $30 per oil is clearly in the past, the oil cartel is regaining some of the power it so quickly lost last fall.

The group of oil producers continues to claim $75 per barrel is its target price for crude, calling it “fair” for everybody involved. Who is to debate what is arguably the most powerful group of countries on the planet?

What OPEC wants, it gets. What are the alternatives? Wind, solar, tides? Doubt it.

As an oil-burning American with a propensity to drop a few Franklins into the gas tank on a weekend adventure, the thought of oil climbing to the cartel’s target range is frightening.

But

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Let’s face it: The financial services sector has suffered a severe loss in popularity.

The result is that governments in both the United Kingdom and the United States are looking for lightening rods to absorb all the criticism, and bankers have made for the ideal candidates.

Now Franz Muntefering, chairman of Germany’s Social Democrats has joined the pile-on, saying that while many bankers are responsible, many others are “beatniks, pyromaniacs and gangsters.”

Muntefering has a history of doing this sort of thing. In 2005, he branded U.S. private equity firms – then threatening to take over German companies – as “locusts.” But given the below-market returns achieved by the private equity industry for its investors, and the way-above-market returns achieved by its sponsors, I’d have to say that the “locusts” comment, which looked quite silly at the time, …

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” Justice Litle thinks Dickens’ classic line  provides an apt description of today’s markets. Sure, this year has been hell. But it has also created some amazing opportunities for contrarian investors. Justice says this is most apparent in the oil and natural gas market, where irrational risk aversion has made most people forget the fundamentals.

This from Taipan Daily:

Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking.

— Vice–President-Elect Joe Biden

Just a few weeks ago, Vice–President-elect Joe Biden (back when he was plain old Senator Joe Biden) promised the world that Barack Obama will be “tested” by America’s enemies.

“Remember I said it standing here,” Biden told his Seattle audience, “if you don’t remember

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