Sentient Money

Check out this graph showing the increase in credit card charge offs and losses for banks:
 
 NYT
We are still below the high reached after the tech bubble collapse, which suggests we still have a long way to go.  At that time the major problem was a decline in stock prices.  This time we have a larger [...]

Sorry about the infrequent posting.  I have been rather busy at work and took a little weekend trip to see the Steelers lose…damn.
Anyway, it’s good to see the market is exactly where I left it, which is completely out of control.  Because of that, let’s go over what we should be doing in a market [...]

Bank Dividends
It appears that any bank that takes government money to recapitalize is not allowed to pay dividends until the borrowed government money is repaid.  Take a look at the Big Picture for more detailed info.
 
Baby Food
Wal-Mart is seeing spikes in baby food purchases based on when people are paid.  Per Infectious Greed this is [...]

When the amount of government debt and consumer debt is shaking the very foundations of trust and confidence in the strongest and wealthiest country to ever exist, nothing is implausible.  When you add in a healthy dose of corruption (AP IMPACT: Mortgage firm arranged stealth campaign):
“WASHINGTON - Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm [...]

I saw this Baltic Dry Index (BDI) graph on The Big Picture.  It is fascinating, but before I get into what this means let me give you a brief definition of what the BDI represents:
Most directly, the index measures the demand for shipping capacity versus the supply of dry bulk carriers. However, since the demand [...]

 
 Retail sales came out today:
The Commerce Department reported Wednesday retail sales decreased 1.2 percent last month, nearly double the 0.7 percent drop that had been expected. It was the biggest decline since retail sales fell by 1.4 percent in August 2005.  - Chicago Tribune
Retail sales were down for three straight months ending with a 1.2% [...]

We are now strongly into the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde markets.  One week (last week) the world is ending, and the next, specifically Monday of this week, the new GIANT bull market could be starting. 
How can the markets make these extreme swings, and what do you need to know?
 
Extreme Market Swings
Market sentiment is extremely [...]

It appears the U.S. is joining the European plan (this is from CNN Money).
The federal government announced an extraordinary and historic investment in the nation’s banks early Tuesday - the biggest bet ever made with taxpayer dollars on the U.S. financial system.
As a start, the Treasury will pump $250 billion into financial institutions. Nine of [...]

Today is a big positive, but by no means signals a V-shaped recovery.  Everyone needs to remember that the bond/credit markets are closed today (holiday), and these markets have been the drag on the equity market.  On top of that Europe has increased their government intervention in the financial markets, and there are rumors the [...]

Here is a listing of some great posts from the past week:

Financial 911 by Millionaire Mommy Next Door - Good solid personal finance advice, that applies in good and bad economic times.
The Death of Index Investing by Early Retirement Extreme- Love this article.  He does a good job of simplifying the case against index investing, [...]