In this issue

• While you were sleeping: global equity markets are selling off quite sharply and oil prices soaring amid the political turmoil in Libya; bond market investors are treating this latest series of events overseas as a deflationary shock; cyclical spending is about to go through the proverbial wringer

• The U.S. consumer hibernates? Not even the rally seems to be doing much these days in terms of sparking a sustained wealth effect on spending

• Fiscal contraction is coming … this is a key theme: major budgetary restraint is coming our way in the second half of the year, and so we would recommend that you enjoy whatever fiscal and monetary juice there is left in the blender

Please read on HERE

The Bottom Line

Prospects for further intermediate gains in North American equity markets remain positive. Equity markets are in the middle of favourable Presidential cycle period. The focus is on economically sensitive equities and ETFs that have favourable seasonal characteristics. Shallow corrections and rotation will continue (e.g. weakness in the base metal sector last week), but will provide an opportunity to accumulate.

The days of $100 oil are back—and not just in Europe, where the Brent crude benchmark vaulted past $108 a barrel on Monday.

The mainstream media is playing this as some sort of “democracy” revolution, where the hip, savvy, tech-head youngsters want to challenge the authority of the old princes and emirs, etc. Soon, the Middle East will be run just like Madison, Wisconsin…or something like that.

Read more: Investing Around the Chaos in the Arab World http://dailyreckoning.com/investing-around-the-chaos-in-the-arab-world/#ixzz1EdutVVlz

45 days after the end of any given quarter financial television programs and bloggers race to be the first to report the holdings of – insert name of big hedge fund here. They analyze the report to see what the hedge fund managers are buying and selling. However, the question remains – is there any real value in these filings for investors on the outside looking in?