Snowy times here in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. But as long as the power stays on I'm content to bunker down and wait for the white stuff to melt. Eventually. Anyway, it has been a wild couple of days in the markets. Now let's see what your humble editor is dishing up for weekend reading.
- The First Eagle funds have made available their semi-annual market update and commentary. Go here and scroll down to the January 19 item. You can choose to listen to it or download a PDF transcript to read. Jean-Marie Eveillard is among the participants and, as you might expect, there are questions on gold and gold mining stocks.
- Portfolio holding BCE Inc. (BCE) has announced a profit forecast beating analyst estimates. BCE has top-notch management, has been trimming fat, and pays a nice fat dividend in Canadian dollars. Not a bad thing in the current environment.
- I've noticed that people who deeply admire George W. Bush tend to deeply dislike Barack Obama. And folks who admire Obama deeply dislike Bush. But when it comes to fiscal irresponsibility, Obama is simply Dubya on steroids. A fact that must leave admirers of both men deeply unhappy (if they can bring themselves to acknowledge the truth). Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg has a nice column on the budget fiasco (and dishonesty) in Washington.
- Today's editorial in The Wall Street Journal on the US debt and the chance, remote or not, of the US losing its Aaa credit rating is worth reading. Not a fun read, but an important one.
- Africa Confidential has a feature on the African Union summit held in Addis Ababa on February 1. Excellent recap on something receiving almost zero coverage in America, and an example why AC is a great publication. That they continue making their feature stories available free online is a treat for those of us enjoying hard news.
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