Well played… The last time we had a Q1 as good as this? 1987… Jim Sinclair: ‘What we are witnessing right now is one of the most dangerous and potentially fatal gambles in history’

Victory – “A Few Good Men” Push The Market To New All Time Highs

Appropriately enough, the S&P 500 closed at its all-time high closing price today on pretty much the lowest volume day of the year. Q1 ends with the Dow up 11.25% (on ever-decreasing volume) and the Long Bond down 2% (but don’t expect a rotation as it was down 3.75% in Q1 2012). Gold and Silver down 3.6 [...]

BULGARIA SPEECH: Netanyahu Says Hezbollah Acted At Behest Of IRAN; OIL Spikes On His Threats; US Army Mortuary Unit Deploys To Middle East

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of carrying out the attack in Burgas Bulgaria and called the terror group: “The long arm of Iran.”

Source: ynetnews

Oil Spikes As Netanyahu Threatens Iran

The first on-the-record comments, regarding the bombing in Bulgaria, from Israel’s Netanyahu are not the most politically correct. His ire with the world’s ignorance of Iran’s terrorist-fostering position is very clear as are his threats and promises for retribution. Not good. And [...]

The EU ratifies its decision to start an embargo against Iranian oil on July 1, but it’s the sharp fall in oil prices

WTI crude traded as low as $78.03 today – that’s providing an outsized assist as the U.S. and the EU clamp down on Iranian oil exports with less fear that the sanctions will spark a price rise that would harm the global economy.

via WSJ:

A sharp fall in oil prices is helping the U.S. and the European Union clamp down on Iranian oil exports in the coming days with less fear [...]

The EU just downwardly revised its economic forecast for 2012, and now here’s more bad news.

Priced in Euros, Brent Crude just hit its all time high.

This chart of Brent priced in Euros isn’t quite updated to the latest data, but you get the gist.

As you can see, priced in regular dollars, Brent still isn’t quite there towards the peak.

And then just to put things in perspective, here’s WTI crude (which is what we more normally quote here in the US) priced in dollars. Still WAY [...]

Stephen Leeb: If Europe Implodes You Will Have QE on Steroids

kingworldnews.com

With gold, silver, oil and stocks showing strength recently, today King World News interviewed acclaimed money manager Stephen Leeb, Chairman & Chief Investment Officer of Leeb Capital Management.  When asked about the move the oil price hitting $100, Leeb responded, “Well I think it strongly suggests that any semblance of economic growth, any sign that Europe is going to recover, is going to lead to dramatically higher oil prices.  I [...]

Sudden Crude Backwardation Telegraphing Imminent Easing Episode By Fed

by ZH

Commodity prices have certainly been volatile in the last few days with near-record-breaking upside shifts in some. Copper’s extravaganza in the last two days was discussed earlier but it is the huge shift in the whole WTI crude complex that is perhaps more fascinating. For the first time since May 2011, Dec 11 WTI is more expensive than Dec 12 and in the last three trading days alone, the [...]

Nick Bullman: Oil May Hit $150, Gold $2,000

Oil prices are likely to hit $150 while gold may go above $2,000 longer term, Nick Bullman, a managing partner at research-based risk assessment service firm CheckRisk, told CNBC Tuesday.

In the Middle East and North Africa, “the genie is out of the bottle” and the unrest is ” very likely to continue for some time,” Bullman said, adding that over the short term oil, which [...]

Stagflation 2011: Why It Is Here And Why It Is Going To Be Very Painful

Are you ready for an economy that has high inflation and high unemployment at the same time? Well, welcome to “Stagflation 2011″.  Stagflation exists when inflation and unemployment are both at high levels at the same time.  Of course we all know about the high unemployment situation already.  Gallup’s daily tracking poll says that the U.S. unemployment rate has been hovering around 10 percent all [...]