Germany is having to show more of its hand

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Dec 16, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments In my predictions for 2011 post from earlier this week I said that the net effect of the European financial crisis would predominately be political.  Specifically what I expect the long-term affect to be is a stronger, more expressive Germany.  While much of the German public is opposed to the European Union and to the euro, the Germans benefit from the free-trade arrangement to a much larger...
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The power of options

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Dec 15, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Monday Forrester Research reported that for the first time, on average, citizens of the U.S. spend more time on the Internet than they do watching television.  Interestingly, the amount of time spent watching television has not declined much.  Instead, folks have reduced the amount of time spent reading printed newspapers and magazines. It would be tempting to talk about what everyone else is...
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How are the holiday sales?

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Dec 14, 2010 in Blog | 4 comments Retail sales increased by 0.8% in November according to the U.S. Commerce Department.  This result compares to an economists’ expected rise of 0.5%.  Additionally, October’s retail sales figures were revised up 1.7% from their previously reported 1.2%. Analysis: The first thing that I want to draw your attention to is that all of the economic data that have been coming out in the...
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13 December 2010: Radio interview with Santa Fe’s KSFR 101.1 and host Diego Mulligan

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Dec 13, 2010 in News & Events | 0 comments Diego Mulligan so enjoyed our interview this past Friday, December 10th that he has invited me back to interview this Wednesday, December 15th. If you missed the first one, you missed the one of the best interviews I have ever had in my career. Here are the details: Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 4pm In Santa Fe: 101.1 KSFR on your radio dial Elsewhere:...
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2011 predictions

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Dec 13, 2010 in Blog, Predictions | 15 comments This is the first of what will become a regular feature of the blog.  My intention is to put in electronic stone my sense of things as they are and will be.  Hopefully this provides actionable information for each of you.  It also neatly provides criteria by which you can assess my continued skill as an investor. As the title would imply, the focus here is on intuition, since facts, by...
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It’s chickens that sit on eggs

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Dec 10, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments This morning the Wall Street Journal is reporting an astounding statistic from the Federal Reserve: U.S. companies are sitting on $1.93 trillion in cash!  That works out to 7.4% of the total assets of U.S. corporations.  If U.S. companies are unwilling to spend this cash in an environment when gross domestic product has not only erased the losses of the recession, but also grown beyond...
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The qualitative Federal Reserve, slight return

Posted by Jason Apollo Voss on Dec 10, 2010 in Blog | 0 comments Six weeks ago the Federal Reserve announced a policy of “quantitative easing.”  At the time I said that the goal of lowering the value of the U.S. dollar and of U.S. interest rates would be a failure.  News abounds of the failure of this policy.  I hope that you are not surprised.  Interest rates are already effectively zero percent and businesses and individuals are not borrowing...
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