By Marketwatch:
All of the gloomy economic news may have investors bracing themselves for more turmoil. But according to one respected investment research firm, the economy may have already emerged from a recession.
Mark Hulbert reports that TrimTabs used a proprietary econometric model that examines job data to arrive at this conclusion. TrimTabs found significant improvements in this data at a time when a recession would mean continued declines in such numbers. Though the Hulbert Financial Digest does not track TrimTabs' investment advice, Hulbert writes that TrimTabs does seem to have made some impressive market calls over the past few years.
Gold may have staggered away from the $1000 threshold recently, but Peter Brimelow finds gold investors taking solace in two seemingly obscure data points. And Brimelow says that gold may now be at a price point that could spur new demand in India, which is the world's largest importer of gold. -- Ari Charney, Portfolio Analyst