The New York Times – CHARLOTTE MCDONALD-GIBSON: Populism Has Not ‘Peaked’ in Europe. The Fight Continues Dark clouds have been hovering over Europeans who believe in an integrated, tolerant and open Continent. First came Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in June, followed by Donald J. Trump’s election. Nationalists and right-wing populists seemed to… Continue reading Has The Populist Movement Come To An End?
CNBC – Bitcoin jumps to a record, nears $1,500 on a spike in demand from Japan The digital currency is up almost 7 percent so far in May to an all-time high of $1,442.58 on Tuesday, according to CoinDesk. The digital currency climbed almost 3 percent to an all-time high of $1,442.58 Tuesday, according to CoinDesk.… Continue reading New Highs for Bitcoin
Bloomberg – Biggest Gold Miner ETF Just Saw Largest Outflows on Record The U.S. equity exchange-traded fund that experienced the largest withdrawals last week was the $10.3 billion VanEck Vectors Gold Miners (GDX), the biggest ETF that invests in gold-mining companies. The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD), the world’s largest commodity ETF at $34.8 billion, also… Continue reading ETF Investors Bail on Gold Miners
The Financial Times – Wheat jumps as US snowstorm damages crops Traders scramble to cover bearish bets as unexpected bad weather strikes US wheat prices jumped 8 per cent in two days as worries over the damage caused by a late winter storm prompted a scramble to cover bearish bets. More than 30cm of snow… Continue reading Betting On Wheat
Bloomberg.com – Hedge Funds Pile in to Long Bets on Bonds Just as Dangers Build Fast money amasses record amount of 10-year Treasury futures Fed meeting, Treasury refunding may buffet bonds this week For the first time since July, hedge funds and other large speculators are bullish on Treasuries across the yield curve, U.S. Commodity… Continue reading The Big Bond Short Cover
The Wall Street Journal – Greece Reaches Bailout Agreement With Creditors Greek finance minister says there will now be negotiations with creditors on debt relief Greece and its international creditors reached an agreement early on Tuesday on the austerity measures and economic overhauls the country must implement to keep its bailout program going, clearing the way… Continue reading Another Greek Bailout
MarketWatch – Mark Hulbert: This is what the bull market’s last gasp looks like Might this bull market about to gasp its last gap? If only we were so lucky. I’m only half kidding: The stock market more often than not produces some of its most spectacular returns right before a market top. So if… Continue reading How Bull Markets End
The Wall Street Journal – Will Trump’s Tax Plan Succeed? Ask Yahoo Investors have driven up stocks across the board on expectations for President Donald Trump’s proposed tax cuts. Few companies’ share prices have been more dependent on tax expectations than Yahoo ’s. The internet company expects to close a $4.5 billion deal to sell… Continue reading Trump’s Tax Plan
The Financial Times – US inflation back to undershooting 2 per cent ahead of FOMC meeting On consumption, real consumer spending increased 0.3% in March while nominal spending was basically unchanged. These figures were softer-than-expected and included a 6.5% surge in real spending on household utilities. Excluding this jump (which was weather-related), overall real spending ticked… Continue reading The Fed And Inflation
The Financial Times – Martin Sandbu: Who still believes in Mr Market? We cannot deduce all that much from price movements There is a widespread predilection — not least in financial newspapers — for interpreting market movements as signals of the investing public’s predictions of the future. Hence the French bond market is treated as… Continue reading Are Market Signals Distorted
Bloomberg View – Barry Ritholtz: ETFs Aren’t About to Destroy the World The FPA managers seem to blame ETFs for the current market environment. This has led them to the wrong conclusions. Their fund has held as much as 35 percent of its assets in cash the past few years, although that has since declined.… Continue reading Will ETFs Destroy The World?
DealB%K (NYT Blog) – John Paulson’s Fall From Hedge Fund Stardom But his investors are unlikely to be impressed by his political access. His firm, Paulson & Company, has recorded nearly double-digit losses in several of its larger funds as of the end of March. That dismal record is a far cry from nearly a decade… Continue reading Struggling Hedge Fund Managers