The Financial Week in Review for the week starting Mar 19th, 2012

This last week was rather gentle, all told. A lot of improvement in relatively subtle areas. I mean, how many of us actually check out what’s happening in Saudi Arabia in order to discern where our interest rates and gasoline prices are going? Lo and behold, though, a Saudi official recently declared that oil prices have gone too high and that, if it felt like it, Saudi Arabia could increase its oil production by 25% rather easily.

This is a bit of Saudi saber-rattling in response…

The Financial Week in Review for the week starting Mar 12th, 2012

Avid readers of this column, if any exist, will recall that I looked forward last week to watching the effect of the February employment data on the markets. I imagined sitting in a lawn chair, sipping lemonade, reveling in the triumph of jobs in America, the slight northward movements of interest rates, the signs of investors awareness that the American economy is moving toward the light at last.

I offered one caveat. And that caveat is, perhaps sadly, the subject of this…

The Financial Week in Review for the week ending Feb 17, 2012

Gradually improving US economic data and a Greek deal of some sort have relieved immediate financial fears, and so bond and mortgage rates have risen.

The rate increase is proportional to the relief. 10-year T-notes have moved from 1.92% to 2.02%, and mortgages from just under 4.00% to just under 4.125%, roughly like your kid's fever dropping from 105 to 104.5.

However, the kid here is in a lot better shape than the kid in Europe. The most reassuring news here is the…