South Korea to NOT purchase Treasuries moving forward

This came out late last week and is worth noting....VERY important...

The Federal Reserve has so debased the dollar and pandered to Wall Street's calls for lower interest rates that foreign investors have finally begun to shun U.S. government debt. The Financial Times reports a South Korean pension fund -- the fifth largest in the world -- will stop buying Treasuries.

Money managers from pension funds to central banks must seek out higher yielding assets. The shift in foreign ownership will not happen overnight. But as long as the Fed and Department of the Treasury continue to support policies that weaken the dollar, the trend will gain steam

The fund holds only $14 billion in Treasuries, but increasing demand for withdrawals are forcing it to seek better returns.

If central banks rotate investments from Treasuries to other sovereign debt, rates will rise in the Treasury market, as sellers offer higher yields to attract potential buyers. The dollar will strengthen and asset prices will fall across the board. Higher interest rates will impede already stagnant economic growth. Asian nations hold more than half the total foreign-owned U.S. government debt. Add in OPEC and other developing countries and that number jumps to almost 70%.

Dan Ross
http://BetterBizBooks.com

Source: http://www.financialtimes.com/
Source: http://www.myanville.com/

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Hilarious Cartoon re: Uncle Sam and Stimulus Package

I was laughing my head off when I received this from a friend the other day.



Dan Ross
http://BetterBizBooks.com

Even Red Hot China is starting to Slow Down/fall....

As my posts in the recent months have been U.S. economy focused I thought I would share some insights into what is regarded as the fastest growing economy in the world. The Chinese economy is forecast to be larger than Japan and the U.S. economy by 2015 :)

Chinese stocks had been trending upward at an ever accelerating rate (i.e. parabolic) since 2005. The parabolic nature of the Chinese rally came to an end as the US housing market/credit crisis began to take hold in Q4 2007. Currently, the iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI) trades within the confines of a significant downtrend.

I would also note that the Chinese government was trying to put curbs into their banking system and trying to have banks build up their capital base via loaning out all their $$$ during this time frame as well. With so much of their economy tied to their economic development (ie. real estate in China) the government had a good amount to be concerned about. The SMOG is INSANE. Having personally been to China some 15 years ago I'll attest that I was AMAZED to see entire DOWNTOWN projects (10-15 skyscrapers) going up at one time while several MAJOR 10-12 lane highways were being constructed as well.

Great charts - sign up today @ http://www.chartoftheday.com/






Source - http://www.chartoftheday.com/
Source - iShares

Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com

Housing Prices Holding Up? in DFW YES! Here's why...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_on_re_us/census_growing_cities;_ylt=AjPr7Kfz0vL2UnrxU.yZbvxH2ocA

This is why Dallas housing is holding up so well. POPULATION GROWTH IS PHENOMENAL, which drives the need for housing. It helps to absorb all the homes that are hitting the market due to the subprime mess.

Dan Ross
http://BetterBizBooks.com

4 year uptrends busted in the NASDAQ

Great chart showing the trends. With the Nasdaq at 2177 you can see how we have clearly breached the support levels and further downside is likely over the coming year.

Great charts - sign up today @ http://www.chartoftheday.com/



Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com

Dow Jones Stock Trends....

Another Chart from the same great service. Free so subscribe today!
http://www.chartoftheday.com/

As you can see, technical analysis is showing the resistance areas as well as support areas for the DOw JONES based on historic buying/selling patterns.

Dan Ross

http://www.BetterBizBooks.com/

Gold Prices since 2001

This is a great, free website I subscribe to. I have subscribed going back all the way to 2001.

Gold Prices are typically a hedge against inflation and, with a growing world-wide economy the sheer demand for commodities has been growing substantially over the last 10 years, leading to higher commodity prices. Now, people want hard assets vs. currencies, stocks, etc.

http://www.chartoftheday.com/20080314.htm?T




Dan Ross
http://www.BetterBizBooks.com