This post provides links to a number of interesting articles I have read over the past few days that you may also enjoy.

• Mohamed El-Erian and Ramin Toloui (Financial Times): How to fill the gaps left by dollar decline, November 5, 2009. We should expect to see more discussion in the next few years on new types of reserve assets.

• James West (GoldSeek): Gold price is no bubble, November 4, 2009. The price performance of gold recently has all sorts of armchair economists waxing philosophical on the idea that this is the advent of a price “bubble”. While certainly everyone has and is entitled to their opinion, there are other features of humanity that we all possess, and much like many opinions, are best obscured from view. Declaring that gold is in a “bubble” demonstrates complete ignorance of or disregard for

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U.S. stocks ended mixed Wednesday after a late-session profit taking almost wiped off a 156-point rally in the Dow average that was fueled by the Fed’s encouraging assessment of the economy and its decision to keep interest rates low for an extended period.  The optimism was short-lived as investors appeared jittery ahead of the October jobs report on Friday. Fresh concerns over bank earnings resurfaced after the House of Representatives passed a bill curbing credit card rate increases.

After the house vote, financials slumped 1.5% and led the decliners among the S&P 500 industry groups.  Analyst Meredith Whitney noted the biggest U.S. banks may face declining values on home-loan bonds with government backing as the Fed moves towards ending its $1.25 trillion purchase program.  Whitney said bank earnings are far from approaching "normalcy," and will reflect regulatory changes for an extended period.  JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) fell 1.2% to $42.21 and

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SLM Corporation (SLM) or commonly know as Sallie Mae, reported third quarter core earnings of $164 million or 26 cents per share. Results were well ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 8 cents per share. The company had earned 19 cents in the year-ago period. Results reflected improvements in the credit market and an increase in loan originations. However, loan loss provisions remain high. Quarterly results included a gain of $74 million on the repurchase of debt and a $55 million accounting adjustment to reflect slower loan prepayments. Sallie Mae posted a net income attributable to common stock of $116.5 million, or 25 cents per share, compared with a loss of $186 million, or 40 cents, in the year-ago period. Core earnings return on assets was 0.31%, up 6 basis points (bps) year-over-year. Sallie Mae originated $6.9 billion in federal student loans in ...

This post is a guest contribution by Paul Kasriel* of The Northern Trust Company.

On November 7, 2008, Bloomberg LP sued the Federal Reserve Board under terms of the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the names of borrowers of funds from the Federal Reserve as well as lists of the collateral posted by the borrowers. On August 25, 2009, a U.S. District judge ruled in favor of Bloomberg, ordering the Federal Reserve Board to turn over to Bloomberg the requested information within five days. At this writing, the Fed has yet to comply and has yet made a decision to appeal the ruling. The Fed has been reluctant to reveal the names of its borrowers allegedly out of a concern that such a revelation could have an adverse competitive impact on the borrowers.

The reason I bring this up is that it is similar

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Per The Jakarta Post, bank lending in Indonesia grew by just 2.09% from December last year to June compared with 16.26% a year earlier. Working capital loans slid the most, a sign of firms’ reluctance to expand, and banks also cutback loans out of fear that non-performing loans (NPL)–currently at 3.94%– would increase beyond the central bank’s accepted 5% threshold. Yet central to the reasons why businesses are reluctant to borrow, argues Erwin Aksa, chairman of the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association, are their lenders’ self-imposed, high deposit rates. Large sovereign bond issuances have driven up the cost of money, as do the demands of large depositors–most of whom are state-owned companies, and which currently account for roughly one-half of banks’ third-party funds. The vicious cycle impairs liquidity, however, as banks fear above anything else a loss of depositors and a sudden run

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CROX, CROCS Inc.

AQNM, Aquentium Inc, AQNM.OB

PennyOmega.com Watch List!

PennyOmega.com Watch List ! for Friday August 7, 2009

Our Picks at PennyOmega.com for Friday August 7, 2009 are:

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CROX, CROCS Inc.

CROX and its subsidiaries design, develop, and manufacture consumer products from specialty resins worldwide. It primarily offers footwear for men, women, and children under the Crocs brand. The company designs and sells a range of footwear, apparel, gear, and accessories that utilize its proprietary closed cell-resin, called Croslite.

CROX also offers a line of apparel for boys, girls, and men featuring Croslite material; and accessories, including snap-on charms, backpacks, and messenger bags.

As of December 31, 2008, CROX operated 70 domestic and international retail stores, 174

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NVDA, NVIDIA Corporation

AQNM, Aquentium Inc, AQNM.OB

DrStockPick Watch List!

 

DrStockPick Watch List! for Friday August 7, 2009

 

My Picks for Friday August 7, 2009 are:

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NVDA, NVIDIA Corporation

NVDA is the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies.

NVDA creates innovative, industry-changing products for computing, consumer electronics, and mobile devices. The NVIDIA® brands include NVIDIA GeForce®, NVIDIA Tesla(tm), NVIDIA GoForce®, NVIDIA Quadro®, and NVIDIA nForce®. These product families are transforming visually-rich and computationally-intensive applications such as video games, film production, broadcasting, industrial design, financial modeling, space exploration, and medical imaging.

Additionally, NVDA invents and delivers industry-shaping technologies, including NVIDIA SLI™ technology, a revolutionary approach to scalability and increased performance; and

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AQNM, Aquentium, Inc., AQNM.OB

DrStockPick Stock Report!

 

 

 

Dr Stock Pick HOT News & Alerts!

Aquentium CEO Mark Taggatz Discusses Recent House Bill

For Improved Food Safety Standards

 

Thursday August 6, 2009

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Aquentium CEO Mark Taggatz Discusses Recent House Bill For Improved Food Safety Standards

North Palm Springs, CA - (WORLD STOCK WIRE) - August 6, 2009 — Aquentium, Inc. (OTCBB: AQNM) CEO Mark Taggatz commented today that the recent House of Representatives Bill that passed giving the FDA more oversight on Food Safety is certainly a major step in the right direction.

The House of Representatives passed legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration more authority and resources to prevent and stop food-borne illnesses, in response to a string of outbreaks involving peanuts, spinach, hot peppers and other foods. Under the House bill, the FDA would be required to

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Las Vegas- Stock-PR would like to hightlight: Aquentium, Inc. (OTCBB: AQNM) CEO Mark Taggatz commented today that the recent House of Representatives Bill that passed giving the FDA more oversight on Food Safety is certainly a major step in the right direction.

The House of Representatives passed legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration more authority and resources to prevent and stop food-borne illnesses, in response to a string of outbreaks involving peanuts, spinach, hot peppers and other foods. Under the House bill, the FDA would be required to conduct more frequent inspections. It would have the authority to order recalls and tell companies how to keep records so contaminated products could be traced more easily. Most food companies also would be required to register with the agency and pay an annual $500 fee for each of their facilities.

“Aquentium strongly supports the Bill, and hopefully more food and beverage

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PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

PennyOmega.com Hot Stock News & Alerts!

Aquentium CEO Mark Taggatz Discusses Recent House Bill

For Improved Food Safety Standards

 

Thursday August 6, 2009

PennyOmega.com Stock Report!

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North Palm Springs, CA - (WORLD STOCK WIRE) - August 6, 2009 — Aquentium, Inc. (OTCBB: AQNM) CEO Mark Taggatz commented today that the recent House of Representatives Bill that passed giving the FDA more oversight on Food Safety is certainly a major step in the right direction.

The House of Representatives passed legislation to give the Food and Drug Administration more authority and resources to prevent and stop food-borne illnesses, in response to a string of outbreaks involving peanuts,

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