Friday Lite

In a few hours we will head north to the Central Coast of California to spend the weekend in Morro Bay, sampling some more wine and making it to about the half-way point in our second time through the set of five tours at Hearst Castle.

While there are plenty of historical sites elsewhere in the country, the pickins' are pretty slim out here on the left coast, Hearst Castle being one of the more popular ones - the weather looks good, all systems are go.

There's one last thing to do...

The Return of Uncertainty, or Maybe Not

In yesterday's testimony before the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke re-introduced uncertainty to the nation's monetary policy discussion - or maybe he didn't, it's not really clear.

The FOMC will continue to monitor the incoming data closely to assess the prospects for both growth and inflation. In particular, even if in the Committee's judgment the risks to its objectives are not entirely balanced, at some point in the future the Committee may decide to take no action at one or more meetings in the interest of allowing more time to receive information relevant to the outlook. Of course, a decision to take no action at a particular meeting does not preclude actions at subsequent meetings, and the Committee will not hesitate to act when it determines that doing so is needed to foster the achievement of the Federal Reserve's mandated objectives.

So, is this a whole new level of uncertainty or simply cover for the widely expected "one-and-done"? The new Fed Chairman's plainspoken misdirection is a bit difficult to get adjusted to, if indeed this is misdirection.

It's Baaaack...

The Iranian Oil Bourse, presumed to be extinct, or at least delayed for a year, is set to start trading next week, according to this report:

Iranian Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said on Wednesday that the establishment of Oil Stock Exchange is in its final stage and the bourse will be launched in Iran in the next week.
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He rejected a statement attributed to him saying that Oil Stock Exchange will bring to the ground the US economy and said, "I don't know who has speculated that I've not talked about US economy."
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Asked about the oil price rise, Vaziri-Hamaneh said that oil price is being influenced by political situation, whereas it should be freed from political impacts and economic and technical fundamentals should determine the oil prices.

Just when it looked like everyone was going to get along with each other and stick with the oil-for-dollars routine that has served everyone so well for so many years - they're just beggin' to be bombed now.

A Wild Ride

What the heck is this EKG waveform doing on Kitco's gold and silver charts?

It's probably a safe bet that this isn't the last time that intra-day swings in the $10-$15 range will be seen on these charts. A day can be imagined, not too far off, when $50 swings are commonplace.

There were the Bernanke comments, the China interest rate announcement, and the announcement that the Silver ETF will finally start trading today - all of these contributed to this action.

A lot of confusion and a lot of manic trading and at the end of the day, both gold and silver closed at about where they opened in New York on the Nymex.

"Friday Lite" Search Engine Update

As remarked last week, in an attempt to aspire towards something (not necessarily meaningful), sights have been set on garnering the #1 ranking for the phrase "Friday Lite" on all the major search engines.

Last week this blog was #1 on Google, and #2 or #3 on both MSN Search and Yahoo!

This week's progress?

Still #1 on Google, and a big move from #2 to #1 on MSN Search, but unceremoniously dropped to #7 at Yahoo!

Maybe this had something to do with Tuesday's post about Yahoo! in China.

To the Moon!

Speaking of China, it seems they are getting set to launch a lunar probe next year as part of a program that will lead to landing on the moon with a remote controlled rover in a few years.

China's lunar exploration scheme, which includes long-term plans for piloted moon missions, underscores the ambitious scope of a space programme that has come a long way, especially in recent years, since its launch 50 years ago.

On Thursday, China sent a science research satellite into orbit, marking the country's first space mission this year.

In 2003, China became only the third country -- after the United States and Russia -- to launch a man into space aboard its own rocket. Last year, it sent two men into space aboard another ship.

They are probably just looking for more raw materials - iron ore, copper - that sort of thing. This likely has nothing to do with their emergence as a world super-power.

Pennsylvania Woman With 97 Cents Gets $328K Home

This story from Pennsylvania demonstrates the fine job that regulators are doing in cracking down on lending practices:

A woman pleaded guilty to fraud and other charges in what a prosecutor said was his first case in which a defendant stole an entire house.

Wendy Jean-Francois, 44, of Morrisville, pleaded guilty Monday in Bucks County Court to multiple counts of fraud, forgery and related charges.

Prosecutors said Jean-Francois sat down Oct. 5 at a settlement table at Rainbow Assurance, a mortgage title firm in Falls, with 97 cents in her bank account.

But she used two checks totaling $63,000 and a letter vouching for them, purportedly from a Wachovia Bank manager, and left with the keys to a $328,000 home, prosecutors said.

The checks turned out to be counterfeit and the letter forged, said David Zellis, first assistant district attorney. "This just boggles the mind," he said. Bucks County Judge Kenneth Biehn deferred Jean-Francois' sentencing for a mental health evaluation.

Now there's a company you want to have looking out for your interests - Rainbow Assurance. Maybe they should have been required to submit to a mental health evaluation too.

Desperate Realtors and Big Love

This report makes a lot more sense when considering the popularity of the new HBO series Big Love.

It's hard to miss Matt Bingham and Tim Shea's billboard, which practically screams "Free Big-Screen TV" to drivers heading south on the city's Main Street. Bingham and Shea may be peddling televisions, but they aren't in the electronics business. They are real estate agents trying to grab more market share in the ultra-competitive Wasatch Front residential real estate markets.
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The pair, who have sold homes in Davis and Weber counties for years, were trying to figure out how they could drum up more business this home-buying season - specifically how they could get more buyers to view their listings.

"We thought about all kinds of things, and then came up with the free TV idea," Bingham said. "It has worked exactly like we hoped it would."

How better to get somewhat wary real estate buyers off the fence in Utah than to provide them with the ultimate way to enjoy the latest groundbreaking show on HBO, which just happens to be about polygamy.

Website Update

The investment website companion to this blog is still on track for a launch sometime in May. As mentioned before in this space, it is a pay-site (with special pricing for regular readers of this blog) and it is based on commodities (which shouldn't surprise anybody).

A few weeks back, the year-to-date performance was tallied at 18 percent and last week it had risen nine more points. It looks like when things are added up for this week, some of the recent gains will be given back, but still it's an impressive performance so far.

Subsequent announcements prior to the big launch will be contained in these Friday posts - the current plan is to offer a multi-day free pass to the subscribers section just prior to the official launch. Stay tuned.

A Complete and Utter Mess

Some students at the Columbia Business School put together this rather disturbing video(.wmv) about Ben Bernanke, who bested Glenn Hubbard of, you guessed it, Columbia for the top spot at the Federal Reserve.

Warning - it is not for the faint of heart and in laboratory tests, this video has caused seizures in small animals.

As Simon Cowell would say, "At this stage of the competition, this just wasn't good enough. It was all over the place. It was abysmal. A complete and utter mess."

A Few Comments on the Comments

A few comments on the comments section of this blog (in case anyone was wondering):

• The author (that's me) doesn't generally doesn't add anything in the comments section, since nearly without exception, all that was intended to be said on a particular subject has already been stuffed into the post for the day.
• If a commenter asks a question directly of me, it will usually be answered, however, there are exceptions. Email notifications are received for all posted comments, but sometimes they can not be read in a timely manner, and in many cases, a question was asked, then adequately answered by someone else, leaving little reason to add to it.
• If you want to be sure to get a response from the author directly, send mail. All emails are responded to in some way, shape, or form.
• Everyone's entitled to their opinion, however, objectionable comments will either be responded to or removed. If a comment persists, you can generally assume that it is not deemed objectionable.

It is encouraging to see both the volume and the quality of the comments improving over time - don't let the author's apparent aloofness discourage you from participating.