http://www.option-letter-daily.com Daily Commentary from Professional Traders Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the rally. The Dow rose a piddly 11 points. Gold sold off $1. This rally has gone on for so long most people think it is not a rally at all, but a new bull market. Worldwide, it has taken equities up some 73%…making ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2588/options-news/.html As we’ve pointed out before, there are two parts to a political system. One part is shrewd, calculating and corrupt. The other is stupid, senseless, and earnest. The first is surprisingly predictable. The second is predictably surprising. Like the two sides of the brain, people use politics both ways. On ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2587/options-news/.html We are in an era of accelerating change, moving toward a future that will be profoundly different from the past we grew up in. But what will the nature of that change be? What will the future look like? For the last 7 days I have been in an executive ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2585/options-news/.html “The world’s largest shopping mall is almost entirely empty,” says a headline now making its way around the Internet. The mall is not one of America’s consumer emporia. It is not in the US at all. Instead, it is in the Middle Kingdom…and twice as large as the “Mall of ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2586/options-news/.html The stock market continues to rise, albeit slowly. There are some severe overbought conditions that need to be worked off, but the overall picture painted by the technical indicators is bullish. The equity-only put-call ratios are bullish, as they continue to fall. As long as their trend is down, that ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2583/options-news/.html Miserable cities…ghost towns…angry voters… Market flash: The Dow was flat yesterday. Gold rose $2. And Greece said it was making progress towards cutting its deficit. Yesterday we looked at America’s most miserable cities. Today, let’s take a gander at its new “ghost towns.” There are many towns and cities that ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2584/options-news/.html There’s good news and bad news…and a lot of news in between. Consumers spent a little more than was expected of them. And manufacturing did a little better than expected too. On the other hand, the federal government’s tax receipts plunged in the month of February…and bank lending is still ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2582/options-news/.html “I can’t stand it anymore. I have to say something. You act like you actually want a depression. What’s wrong with you?” The above letter came from a dear reader who has missed the point. We are as generous and warm…as caring and sharing…as anyone outside a mental institution. We ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2581/options-news/.html Everyone says the euro is falling apart…that Europe itself can’t survive as a political unit. Europe seems to lack the things that make for a strong political system. It has no common language, for example (there are more than 200 different languages in Europe). And it has no common culture ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2580/options-news/.html The economy grew in the fourth quarter by 5.9%, the most in years. The adjusted monetary base is exploding. Bank reserves are literally through the roof. The Fed is flooding money into the system in an effort to get banks to lend. An historically normal response by banks (to increase ... http://www.option-letter-daily.com/2578/options-news/.html