It's The Economy, As Usual

       The week finished as usual with a Friday.  That's the good news.  The rest of the week was a run of volatility that drove investors, well, crazy.   Where to start?  Let's look at some further international developments that had to be considered when viewing financial data.  Given that in the USA, 75% of investing is by large institutions, one would think events of the day would not have serious influence.  But each day represents an accumulation of worldwide occurrences: weather, wars, announcements by governments and companies, and scientific advancements. So, here we go.
     The Price of Gold
      Long set by an opaque method, using phone conversations of all things, the daily price(s) of gold per ounce will now be set by an independent office which will gather auction prices among bidders and make a price fix: one in the morning and another 6 hours later in the afternoon.  This new system began Friday.  The effect?  Wait until next week.
    Foreign Exchange Settlement
     Any traveler who crosses international borders(outside the EU) knows about the money changers lurking about; companies buying and selling goods across borders also know about ForEx rates.  What isn't known is how the rates are set.   Here's another case of opacity. Another case of rate setting by phone conversation among just a few players.  And one wonders: how did it come to this?  Another announcement: a settlement of charges, a payment made, and a new system in place.  Ho hum.  Bank New York Mellon, the venerable institution, agreed to pay $714 million to resolve allegations(always "allegations") that the bank defrauded customers on foreign exchanges rates over a decade.  The bank also agreed to fire the department head, David Nichols, and a few others.   Suits were filed by the US Attorney in Manhattan and New York's AG Eric Schneiderman.  The lawsuits were aided by whistle blower Grant Wilson, a former employee.  He'll stand to make millins on the settlement.  Way to go, Grant!   BNY Mellon is also a custodian bank, managing 30 TRILLION for money managers, companies  and others(not Bernie Madoff, he be in jail).  Other banks not involved here face their own lawsuits because of rate manipulations.  Stay tuned.
    Price of Propane
      Most Lake Tahoe homes are heated by propane.  Hence, we have a need for price info, especially around fall and winter.  Currently, the market price per gallon, retail, national, is 0.4970 cents/gal., down from a year ago $1.0360.   What do we pay at the truck?   That's a bit different.  Wednesday I talked with a driver who was delivering 1000gals., about twice the average amount.  He quoted me $2.15/gal, give or take a few cents.   Not a bad gross profit margin.  Hmmmm.  Is that good or not?  Depends, as they say.   Not a lot of choices in the market these days as big boys bought up the
 competition, again.
Apple Replaces AT&T
    The Dow Jones Industrial average got a new player this week: Apple Corp. replaced AT&T as one of 30 players on the old DOW.  Nobody uses the DOW much excepts a few pundits and local news media.  Most "players" use the S&P 500 average as a market indicator.  As they should.  Will it make a difference?  Who knows, who cares?