| The board will discuss aspects of the epic American credit and bond bubble and it's ramifications for investors. Emphasis will be on how to profit from (or at least survive) a bond bear market and/or a credit collapse.  Basic entry prerequistes to take this lab: 1. the knowledge that bond prices move inversely to interest rates. 2. an understanding that bonds can lose value if credit conditions deteriorate. 
 Food for thought:
 
 "A sound banker, alas, is not one who forsees danger and avoids it, but one who, when he is ruined, is ruined in a conventional and orthodox way along with his fellows, so that no one can really blame him".
 - John Maynard Keynes
 
 Lab tools:
 
 Good glossary:
 investinginbonds.com
 
 Treasury yields:
 bondtalk.com
 
 Investment-speculative grade spread:
 www2.standardandpoors.com
 
 Japanese Government Bond (JGB) quote:
 futuresource.com
 
 Key bubble related charts and graphics from the Hoisington Management presentation at Grant Conference, Nov. 13, 2003:
 Message 19632973
 
 Economic releases and data (NBER):
 nber.org
 
 Terrific economic data base and graphic capacity:
 economagic.com
 
 Daily Treasury Statement; withholding tax receipts:
 fms.treas.gov
 
 Key measure of cheap loosey goosey easy credit to consumers; mortgage application index, purchase index, refi index, out every Wed. I'm looking for a chart/graphic:
 mbaa.org
 
 Rasmussen consumer and investor confidence, also daily Bush- Kerry polls:
 rasmussenreports.com
 
 TrimTabs (Charles Biderman) weekly liquidity report:
 trimtabs.com
 
 AMG mutual fund flows:
 amgdata.com
 
 Investment Institute, mutual fund cash levels come out end of month:
 ici.org
 
 Insider selling and buying: Thomsons, hit "market tear sheet":
 insider.thomsonfn.com
 
 Fed repurchase pool:
 bullandbearwise.com
 
 Fed permanent operations:
 ny.frb.org
 
 Some original thinking on how fed repos impact markets:
 financialsense.com
 
 St. Louis Fed data and updates: treasure trove:
 research.stlouisfed.org
 
 research.stlouisfed.org
 
 Fed govt securities bought outright (monetized):
 federalreserve.gov
 
 Federal Reserve flow of funds data:
 federalreserve.gov
 
 Foreign transactions in US securities (Updated on the 11th business day of each month, with a 1.5 month lag.) in 2004: Jan 16, Feb 17, Mar 15, Apr 15, May 17, June 15, July 16, Aug 16, Sept 16, Oct 18, Nov 16 and Dec 15.
 treas.gov
 
 Bureau of Economic Analysis:
 bea.doc.gov
 
 Federal Reserve Economic Data: St. Louis Fed
 research.stlouisfed.org
 
 Tokyo-Mitsubishi economic and retail data:
 btmna.com
 
 Baltic freight index(BDIY):
 quote.bloomberg.com
 
 JOC-ECRI industrial commodities index:
 joc.com
 
 LME metal inventories, another good "maladjusted economy" indicator:
 metalprices.com
 
 Spectrum Commodites: one of best wealth of information sites on commodities markets. Education section is especially worthwhile:
 spectrumcommodities.com
 
 Coal prices:
 eia.doe.gov
 
 Dairy product prices:
 hoards.com
 
 Bureau of Labor Statistics, general:
 bls.gov
 
 Bureau of Labor Statistics, with focus on food and energy inflation:
 data.bls.gov
 
 Life in the trenches with purchasing managers (Purchasing.com):
 manufacturing.net
 
 Foreclosure.com (housing):
 foreclosures.com
 
 Fed fund forwards, implied rates:
 trendmacro.com
 
 Committment of traders (COT) reports:
 64.82.65.31
 
 Prudent Bear commentaries; key on Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin (updated weekends), Marshall Auerback, and Richard Duncan:
 prudentbear.com
 
 Financial Sense Online (Jim Puplava), some very good weekend interviews and links to other sites:
 netcastdaily.com
 
 Excellent commentary and graphics from Contrary Investor:
 contraryinvestor.com
 
 Don Coxe Monthly Basic Points:
 corporate.bmo.com
 
 Bill Fleckenstein:
 moneycentral.msn.com
 
 Bank Credit Analyst:
 bcaresearch.com
 
 Futures market quotes:
 sites2.barchart.com
 
 My Inflation Train Wreck Essay:
 financialsense.com
 
 My direct e mail for those who can't PM, and have comments or contributions to make:
 winterruss@hotmail.com
 |