Weekend Update: The Inagural Post
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The Greenback Consulting portfolio has not been trading as actively as it did a year ago, and as a result, the official blog has been a little less hopping. Nevertheless, I still want to provide updates on the market and the status of the Greenback Consulting Portfolio, which is why I'm starting a new weekly series, in addition to regular postings. Every Sunday I will post any current holdings in the Greenback portfolio, as well as any trades that occurred during the prior week. In addition, I will post and comment on three important economic stories that might get overlooked by the mainstream. Enjoy!
Greenback Consulting Portfolio
Holdings: cash
Prior week trades: none
Top Three News Stories
1. The World Is Round - The New York Times reports that high energy prices are beginning to stall globalization. Instead of manufacturing goods around the globe and shipping them thousands of miles for consumption, companies are now reversing their outsourcing strategies. Of course, services that are not energy intensive, like IT support, will probably continue on their trends until labor costs catch up in other parts of the world.
2. Foreign Profits - We all know that the US economy is hurting, but how bad would it be without foreigners. According the New York Times, one-third of all US-based company profits are made overseas. This obviously reflects the weakness of the dollar and the allure of "cheap American goods and services". An article in the International Herald Tribune explains that Europeans and other foreigners are invading New York City, and New Yorkers are jealous of their seemingly endless spending power.
3. Post-Undergraduate Unemployment Hits 9.8% - Most media stories focus on unemployment in the US as a whole, but people my age might be more interested in another statistic: the unemployment rate for 20-24 year olds. The Washington Post reports that post-undergraduates are almost twice as likely to be unemployed as the average American. The article also points out another interesting nugget - the highest demand jobs are those are the bottom of the skill/experience spectrum, so even though a lot of companies might be hiring, they aren't hiring new grads.
Posted by Rob Pitingolo 5:00 PM
