(as of 6:45 AM PST)
It looks like a nice ending to a forgettable trading month. The bank of Japan shook up the economic world last night with a daring experiment in fiscal policy. Japan lowered their central bank interest rate form zero to .1%. One could infer from the move that it's now a better deal to put your Yen in a mattress rather than with the bank of Japan. It is a desperate attempt by Japan to pull out of an economic malaise that has gone on for years. Whether a good thing or a bad one in the long run, it seems to offer the promise of more global economic stimulus, which is always a welcome sign for investors. As a result, the dollar is soaring along with global stock markets. Oil is actually on the upswing as well, which has been a real positive for US stocks recently. US corporate earnings are showing signs of weakness with Amazon reporting a big miss yesterday and retail giant Macys lowering profit guidance. Precious metals prices are holding up, despite the very strong advance in the dollar against more other currencies. The month of January has proven to be the worst in history, in terms of markets performance, but there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel.
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