Economics for the Intelligent Amateur

US Markets

DJIA10741.98chart-37.19
NASDAQ2374.41chart-16.87
S&P 5001159.90chart-5.92
2010-03-19 16:05

Intl. Markets

FTSE5650.12chart+7.50
DAX5982.43chart-29.88
Nikkei10824.72chart+80.69
2010-03-19 15:27

Commodity Futures

Oil80.68chart-1.57
Gold1107.55chart+0.00
Copper2.95chart+0.03
2010-03-19 17:14

Treasury Yield

13 Weeks0.14chart+0.00
5 Year2.45chart+0.37
10 Year3.69chart+0.15
2010-03-19 14:59

Exchange Rates

JPY90.50chart+0.00
EUR0.74chart+0.00
GBP0.67chart+0.00
2010-03-19 17:00

Articles of Interest

GMOs to the Rescue »

The Economist has two excellent articles on GMOs and their increase in use throughout the world. They both basically state that there has been an increase in their adoption, particularly in the developing world. Their opposition seems to lie mostly in Europe now (with some resistance in India as well). It happens [...]

The Wisdom of Keynes »

Well it turns out John Maynard Keynes would have probably completely disagreed with the counter-cyclical policies we are currently seeing (reactions to free markets and deregulation leading to the over-regulations and over-muzzling of markets). I confess not having read Keynes’ Treatise on Money (apart from several excerpts in our Macroeconomics class which I must have [...]

Google Censorship »

For those of you happy that Google refuses to censor itself in China, here is a list of countries in which it continues to do so [via Forbes].

Et tu Stiglitz? »

We have all heard of Joseph Stiglitz; the Nobel prize winning economist who releases books every now and then. You may also be familiar with his belief in more regulation for the economy and his criticism of President Obama’s rescue plan for the financial industry, famously remarking that whoever came up with it is [...]

Super-Markets »

No, not of the Groceries variety, but of the mask and cape variety. More specifically: beating evil dictators at their own game.
Those of you who read The Economist or follow our Tweets (conveniently accessible here: @Dumbagent) may have seen how Kim Jong-il was finally forced into an apology thanks to economics.
It seems [...]