Business

Back in September, we pointed out that assets managed by Norway's sovereign wealth fund had surged to over $1 trillion after they made the controversial decision to increase their exposure to global equity bubbles (see: Norway Wealth Fund Assets Surge To Over $1 Trillion On Massive 70% Allocation To Equities).  The move has worked out perfectly in the short term, though we still have our doubts as to whether the "greater fool" theory works over the long term...certainly it never has before but maybe this time is different.

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

The current rise in oil prices is more of a fear trade right now, driven by fear of what is going on in the Middle East, rather than a result of growing OPEC chatter or inventory reports, Todd Horwitz, chief strategist at Bubbatrading.com, told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

“The oil premiums are very narrow going out to the future, which means that this is more of a fear trade in the front month,” Horwitz said on ‘Bloomberg Markets’.

 

This past week on Bloomberg Television, I referred to bitcoin as "a fraud decorated with technology."  The fraud comes about because the exchange of a fiat legal dollar for a token, to use the kind description adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, seems unfair and frankly incomplete.  But since the dollar itself is a product of government fiat, the subject seems open to debate.

Authored by Nullus Maximus via The Zeroth Position blog,

Today, shoppers across America will participate in the largest shopping day of the year: Black Friday.

$100,000,000,000....

That is the net worth of Amazon founder (and Washington Post owner) Jeff Bezos after Amazon's shares surged today on optimism over Black Friday.

As Bloomberg reports, the $100 billion milestone makes Bezos, 53, the first billionaire to build a 12-figure net worth since 1999, when Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates hit the mark.