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Famously bearish newsletter writer and investor Marc Faber was on Bloomberg TV this morning.

Mostly he thinks things are bad and are going to get worse, though he does see the euro surviving in a different form.

When asked whether he’d rather own dollars or euros he responded: “I have a very special stock tip for you. The symbol is g-o-l-d.”

You can watch the whole video here.

Below is a transcript provided to us by Bloomberg TV.

——

Faber on his latest report:

“It’s actually quite gloomy but if you’re very gloomy what do you invest in: Treasuries, Italian bonds or commodities or equities?  I happen to think U.S. equities are not terribly expensive, so relatively speaking to other assets, they may for a while actually do quite well.”

On the market now:

“Right now, the market is in neutral territory. It was very oversold on October 4^th when the S&P dropped to 1,074. Now around 1260, the upside in my opinion will be between 1,280 and 1,350 because there’s a lot of supply around that area. But if there is some good news coming out of Europe, and good news would simply mean postponing the problems for another few years with some kind of money printing operation, either by that ECB or IMF or EFSF, [that] lift stock prices higher.”"[Postponing problems] is not good news, but it is better news than if the whole eurozone falls apart. It gives some time to maybe find better solutions. I doubt they will be found, but with money printing you can hide a lot of things and you can postpone problems as we have seen in the U.S.”

On the outlook for the euro:

 ”I think the euro will survive, the question is in what form. It may survive without the weaker countries or it could survive theoretically just as a currency aside from local currencies. You would have in France and Italy and Spain and Greece, local currencies and…the dollar. So, I could travel anywhere in Europe and still pay in euros.”

 On whether he’d rather own euros or dollars:

“I have a very special stock tip for you. The symbol is g-o-l-d. That is what I prefer to hold. Both the euro and the dollar are long-term undesirable currencies, especially given zero interest rates in the U.S. Equities to some extent become like cash because they become a store of value compared to cash at a zero interest-rates. Paintings become a store of value, stamps become a store of value.”

On emerging markets:

“There is close correlation between all markets in the world. This year, the U.S. has grossly outperformed the emerging markets   In Asia, we’re down between 15% and 25% in markets. In Eastern Europe, even more. The U.S. this year is a wonderful market relative to the rest of the world. “

“I think this outperformance may go on for a while. Some emerging markets could rebound more strongly than the U.S. because they are more oversold. Like India, the currency is down 18% since July and the market is down 22%.  Currency adjusted, the market has been extremely weak and is oversold. It could rebound somewhat here, but forget about new highs. It’s not going to happen anytime soon.”

On China:

“The reason I’m not very keen on China at the present time [is because] we had a credit bubble, we still have artificially low interest rates and a huge fiscal deficit in orders words artificial stimulus. That’s coming to an end. Yes, the government can further stimulate and slash interest-rates again and reduce reserve requirements, but it will just postpone the problem and aggravate the problem in my opinion.”

 ”When you have an economy like China that becomes so big so quickly, you can have a more meaningful setback. If the U.S. economy grows at 3% or contracts that 3%, it has no impact on the price of copper to speak of….In the case of China, whether the economy grows at 10% or 5% as a huge impact on the demand for iron ore and copper and aluminum, steel and coal. The Chinese economy today has a much larger impact on the rest of the world than is generally perceived economically speaking.”

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All across the country tonight, Americans will be asking one important question: What’s for dinner?

For an increasing number, the answer will be on a restaurant menu rather than their kitchen, according to a report released this week by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Since mid-2009, consumers have been spending a bigger and bigger portion of their paychecks – now almost 4.5 percent – on dining out.

Spending on grocery items, on the other hand, still takes a bigger slice of those paychecks but has remained basically flat over the same period.

Eating out rather than dining in may seem like a perplexing choice for people still trying to recover from the Great Recession, but a closer look at the financial and time pressures families are experiencing helps explain the trend.

Shopping and preparing meals takes time – time that people simply don’t have these days.

 And if Americans do find a spare hour here or there, they’re likely to dedicate it to work so they can earn a little extra, writes Neil Dutta, an economist at Bank of America and co-author of the report.

On top of that, supermarket food prices are increasing at a staggering 6 percent a year, about 2.5 times as fast as the cost of restaurant meals, according to the report.

It is becoming cheaper (on a relative basis, the report notes) for consumers to eat out. “It’s all about substitution, as prices at grocery stores rise, consumers will respond by making choices,” says Dutta.

One of the biggest drivers behind the increased food costs is the rising price of commodities like wheat and corn. Grocery stores tend to pass these price hikes directly onto consumers. 

Restaurants too, have to deal with increasing commodity prices, but are better able to offset them by buying in bulk and cutting back in other areas – like wages. With youth unemployment hovering at 24 percent, it’s an unfortunate truth that restaurants are able to find younger workers who will do more for less.

To get a read on the relative value of eating out versus dining in, The Fiscal Times took a (virtual) trip to some large restaurant chains and compared the prices of meals there to the costs of preparing the same meals home. Admittedly, our methodology was highly unscientific. After all, we’re based in New York City and didn’t go hunting for the best deals we could find on groceries.

We also didn’t factor in whether one meal or another would be healthier, or friendlier to the environment. But that’s part of the point: Eating right and finding the extra savings that could be had by comparison shopping comes with a time trade-off that many families can’t afford to make these days.

The comparisons that follow at least offer some food for thought >

This post originally appeared at The Fiscal Times.

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A chart of NFLX and some thoughts.

There are good and valid reasons for this 75% drop in 4 months. The stock deserved to have gotten crushed. But this is more than just bad company news. There are a bunch of other “names” that have been slammed to the ground of late (FSLR/MCP etc). Those who listened to the TV hosts, stockbrokers and “smart guy” talk over drinks deserve everything they get. But I have to ask,

The answer is that Ben’s contribution to this stockholder debacle is not zero. All the Fed talkers have said again and again they want to force people to buy risk assets. They succeeded. And along the way those that listened to Ben got stepped on.

For sure this will happen again and again. When money has no intrinsic value due to ZIRP it will create froth in prices of stocks, commodities and bonds. I can’t think of a dumber policy than that. I hope that Bernanke followed his own advice and loaded up on NFLX.

Published at Bruce Krasting’s blog >

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European equities markets were lower Monday after a spokesman for the German government said a quick solution to the Eurozone debt crisis will not emerge from a meeting of European leaders scheduled for 23 October, after a plan for a solution was discussed over the weekend by G20 finance ministers and central bank leaders.

No details of the weekend discussions were released.

The FTSE 100 was down 0.54 percent to 5,436.7 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.85 percent to 10,250.4.

Oil explorer BP (LSE: BP) added 2.2 percent and lead gains on the 100 and in the energy sector after it said Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE: APC), which owned a 25 percent stake in the Gulf of Mexico oil rig that exploded and spilled oil into the Gulf last year, will pay to settle all claims over the spill and will drop claims of gross negligence against BP.

BP was one of three energy sector constituents to place in the top five gainers on the 100, with engineer and consultancy to the energy industry AMEC (LSE: AMEC) up 1.74 percent while Essar Energy (LSE: ESSR) added 1.42 percent, but the worst performer in the oil sector was Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL), with a decline of 4.11 percent.

Premier Foods (LSE: PFD) was the best performer on the 250, adding 6.33 percent in a mostly lower food and beverage sector.

Security specialist G4S (LSE: GFS) was the worst performer on the 100, dropping 22.1 percent after it said it will buy Danish facilities services company ISS, also announcing that it will pay for part of the deal with a £2 billion rights issue, while travel agent Thomas Cook Group (LSE: TCG) had the worst day on the 250 with a decline of 5.44 percent.

Most miners were lower, with the worst performance in the sector coming from Talvivaara Mining Company (LSE: TALV), which was down 4.76 percent, followed by a 4.74 percent decline for Allied Gold Mining (LSE: ALD), while Centamin Egypt (LSE: CEY) led five gainers in the sector as it added 3.67 percent.

Banks were mixed, with Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) best as it added 0.74 percent, while Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) dropped 2.5 percent for the worst performance in the sector.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 1.04 percent to 965.38 while the IBEX fell 1.24 percent to 8,864.3, the CAC-40 was 1.61 percent lower to 3,166.06 and the DAX dropped 1.81 percent to 5,859.43.

Markets in Asia and the Pacific region were mostly higher on fewer concerns about the Eurozone economy after a meeting of the G20 finance ministers in Paris over the weekend agreed to at least part of a plan to get a handle on the region’s debt crisis and ahead of a meeting of European leaders scheduled for 23 October to further consider the issue, before a German warning not to expect a quick end to the crisis.

The Nikkei 225 was up 1.5 percent to 8,879.6 in Tokyo, while the Topix index added 1.75 percent to 761.88 and the Mothers market gained 1.07 percent to 412.15.

Carmakers saw gains as Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203) added 2.9 percent and Honda Motor (TYO: 7267) was up 3.6 percent, while game maker Nintendo (TYO: 7974) gained 3.2 percent and consumer electronics manufacturer Sony (TYO: 6758) was 5 percent higher.

Camera and optics maker Olympus Corp (TYO: 7733), however, dropped 24 percent after a report commissioned by dismissed president Michael Woodford and conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers said there could be legal and regulatory inquiries into payments made to advisers in 2008, and after Mr. Woodford said his dismissal came because he had questioned those payments.

Elsewhere in the region, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.37 percent to 2,440.4, the Straits Times Index added 1.27 percent to 2,778.97 in Singapore, Taiwan’s Taiex was 1.4 percent higher to 7,461.12, Australia’s markets were up as the Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.61 percent to 4,337.9 and the S&P/ASX200 was up 1.66 percent to 4,275.4, the Kospi was 1.62 percent higher to 1,865.18 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.01 percent to 18,874.

India’s Sensex dropped 0.34 percent to 17,075.1.

New York equities markets were lower in midday trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.41 percent to 11,479.8 at just past 12:30 p.m. local time, while the S&P 500 had dropped 1.31 percent to 1,208.51 and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.6 percent lower to 2,625.15.

Crude oil prices were lower on Germany’s warning to not expect a quick end of the European debt crisis, with November contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude down 49 cents to $86.31 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude was recently reported down $1.43 to $110.80 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Metals prices were also lower in New York, with December gold down $14.10 to $1,668.90 per troy ounce at around 12:20 p.m. local time, while Silver was 51 cents lower to $31.66 per troy ounce and copper had dropped 3 cents to $3.38 per pound.

European equities markets were higher Friday, with gains coming on hopes for a solution to the region’s debt crisis as the G20 finance ministers meet in Paris to discuss the crisis and a rescue plan that could cause holders of Greek bonds to take bigger losses.

The gains came despite the third credit rating cut in three years for Spain from Standard and Poor’s.

The FTSE 100 was up 1.17 percent to 5,466.36 in London, while the FTSE 250 added 1.06 percent to 10,338.5 as miners and oil companies saw gains on higher commodities prices.

The biggest gainers on both the 100 and the 250, however, were by investment managers, as Man Group (LSE: EMG) added 5.07 percent to lead winners on the 100, while Jupiter Fund Management (LSE: JUP) gained 9.04 percent as the best performer on the 250.

Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) was up 7.28 percent to lead gains in the mining sector after UBS raised its recommendation on the iron-ore miner, while copper miner Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) added 3.71 percent, while the five decliners in the sector were led by trader Glencore International (LSE: GLEN), which was down 3.03 percent and also led declines on the 100.

Hunting plc (LSE: HTG), which supplies the gas and oil industry, led gains in the energy sector as it added 5.41 percent Goldman Sachs imitated coverage with a “buy” recommendation, followed by a 4.71 percent gain for Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW), while the two decliners in the sector were led Salamander Energy (LSE: SMDR), which was 0.49 percent lower.

Most retailer were higher, but DIY retailer Home Retail Group (LSE: HOME) was the worst performer in the sector and on the 250 as it dropped 5.18 percent, while fellow DIY retailer Kingfisher (LSE: KGF) was down 1.07 percent.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.84 percent to 974.46 while the IBEX added 0.36 percent to 8,975.5, the Dax was 0.89 percent higher to 5,967.2 and the CAC-40 gained 0.97 percent to 3,217.89.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed, with more down than up after Standard and Poor’s cut Spain’s credit rating from AA to AA-minus, and after Fitch Ratings cut ratings on European banks UBS (SIX: UBSN), Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LSE: RBS).

The Nikkei 225 was down 0.85 percent to 8,747.96 in Tokyo, while the Topix index was 1.32 percent lower to 748.81 and the Mothers market dropped 1.05 percent to 407.77.

Optics and camera maker Olympus Corp (TYO: 7733) was down 18 percent after President Michael Woodford was voted out by the company’s board and replaced with Chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, while camera and copier maker Canon (TYO: 7751) dropped 2.6 percent on the possibility that it could move production of inkjet printers after two plants in Thailand closed due to flooding.

The flooding in Thailand also played a part in declines for Honda Motor (TYO: 7267), which was down 2.4 percent after output at its Malaysia plant had to be reduced after the floods interrupted its supply of parts, while Nissan Motors (TYO: 7201), which earns 15 percent of its revenues in Europe, dropped 1.7 percent on concerns about the state of the Eurozone economy.

The Shanghai Composite was down 0.3 percent to 2,431.38, Australia’s markets declined as the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.86 percent to 4,269 and the S&P/ASX200 was 0.92 percent lower to 4,205.6, Taiwan’s Taiex fell 0.95 to 7,358.08 and the Hang Seng was 1.36 percent lower to 18,501.8 in Hong Hong.

Gainers in the region included the Straits Times Index, which added 0.37 percent to 2,744.17 in Singapore while South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.67 percent to 1,835.4 and the Sensex gained 1.18 percent to 17,082.17 in India.

New York equities markets were up in midday trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.75 percent to 11,564.6 while at the same time the S&P 500 was up 0.89 percent to 1,214.42 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.86 percent higher to 2,642.76.

Crude oil prices were higher at 12:30 p.m. in New York as investors worried less about the possibility of a recession after the Commerce Department said that US consumers spent more as retail sales were up by 1.1 percent in September, with West Texas Intermediate crude up $2.48 to $86.71 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while at last report Brent crude was $3.29 higher to $114.40 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London.

Metals prices were also up at midday in New York as December gold added $6.30 to $1,674.80 per troy ounce, December silver was up 22 cents to $31.89 per troy ounce, December contracts for copper were 10 cents higher to $3.41 per pound and three-month contracts for copper gained $235 to $7,545 per tonne on the London Metal Exchange after going as high as $7,580.25 per tonne earlier.