Great Northern Iron Ore Properties Trustees Certificate  (GNI) Trade Now »     Rate GNI  -  Discuss GNI  -  Add to Watch List        

Jeffrey Frankel is Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He directs the program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research, where he is also a member of the Business Cycle Dating Committee, which officially declares recessions.

We’ve entered very interesting week in terms of earnings and economic reports. On the tap there are big blue chips financial earnings coming like JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch or Citigroup. And technology stocks releasing earnings this week; Google, Microsoft or Ebay.

Monday:
Economic NA
Earnings M&T Bank (MTB), Genentech (DNA), Novellus (NVLS)

Tuesday:
Economic PPI & Core (1.3%, 0.3%), Empire (-4.0), Retail Sales (0.3%, 0.8%), Biz Inv’s (0.5%)
Earnings Eaton (ETN), J & J (JNJ), State Street (STT), US Bank (USB), Altera (ALTR), Intel (INTC), Seagate (STX)

Perhaps it’s time to put on the contrarian hat and revisit metals and mining stocks. Aside from the macro tide that could be turning against the sector in the long-run, the near term is looking more and more like a blow-off top could be underway. The group has had the wind at its back with a declining dollar and surging demand in emerging markets, but with a coordinated defense from further declines in the Dollar underway by the Treasury and Fed, that tailwind has been neutralized.