7-11-2012

Apartment rents have been on the rise.  A sure sign of the times as more and more people lose their homes - they still need a place to live. 

One of the economic indicators I use for judging the health and well being of global trade is the Dry Baltic Index.  This is simply the index that measures the giant ships traversing the world's oceans.   Lately, watching the index has been like flipping a coin.  This past reading was showing an uptick based on falling fuel prices.  This is actually a good sign.   It's not all gloom and doom. 

More fun in Egypt.  If this escallates into a civil war, how will this affect gas prices, and more importantly the balance of power in the ME?  This, if you remember is a result of the famed "arab spring"....   Diplomacy works?   Calls by the Islamists in Egypt are now wanting the Pyramids destroyed. 

Remember when the Taliban destroyed the centuries old buddhist statue in Pakistan?  If not, it's getting a facelift.  What's the connection?  Figure it out. 

Cummins - a large diesel engine maker for heavy equipment has issued a revised FY 2012 earnings outlook.  DOWN. 

If you're interested here is Rick Ackerman's take on how negative yields increases deflations grip.  A negative yield is where you actually pay the entity to hold your money.  You're not getting paid any interest income by buying bonds which have a negative yield.  Germany and France both had negative yields in their most recent auction.