Business

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.

It’s Black Friday, and in keeping with the Holiday weekend tradition, media commentator Mark Dice traveled to Wal-Marts and other stores to document the “zombie apocalypse” of half-awake consumers hell-bent on elbowing past their peers so they can be sure to get the best deals on electronics, books, video games, clothes and any number of other popular holiday gift items. Of course, as Dice points out, many of the same deals can also be found on a little website called Amazon.com without the hassle of pushing through crowds.