Reuters – Commodities mark worst week in months amid glut, China drag Global commodities from oil to metals and grains were on course to post their steepest weekly declines in months on Friday as the recent rallies in the asset class showed signs of fatigue, pressured by a glut and tepid demand from top consumer China.… Continue reading Are Commodities a Canary in the Coal Mine?
The Financial Times – Why Wilders doesn’t worry the Dutch Geert Wilders hardly ever goes outside. The Dutch nativist politician has lived under non-stop protection since 2004 because of death threats from Islamist fundamentalists. One morning last spring, I found him sitting in his heavily guarded parliamentary office in The Hague, beneath a portrait of Winston… Continue reading Dutch Election Update
The Financial Times – Divisions in anti-Le Pen front open a narrow path to victory French National Front leader gains support but election result still in the balance Marine Le Pen, the 2017 candidate and Mr Le Pen’s daughter, is on course to win 26 per cent of the votes in the first round of… Continue reading French Election Update
The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Household Net Worth Reaches Record $92.8 Trillion U.S. household net worth climbed to a record $92.8 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2016, as the end-of-year surge in stocks and a steady climb in home prices added more than $2 trillion of wealth to household balance sheets. The biggest contributor… Continue reading U.S. Household Net Worth Hits A New Record
Reuters – Exclusive – Saudis tell U.S. oil: OPEC won’t extend cuts to offset shale – sources Senior Saudi energy officials told top independent U.S. oil firms in a closed-door meeting this week that they should not assume OPEC would extend output curbs to offset rising production from U.S. shale fields, two industry sources told Reuters… Continue reading The Crude Selloff
Bloomberg Business – Debt Ceiling Quandary Unleashes Volatility in Treasury Bill Get ready again for some wild fluctuations in the U.S. Treasury bill market. On March 16, the statutory limit on the nation’s debt, better known as the debt ceiling, will be reinstated. .. Investors are closely watching Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney to… Continue reading Debt Ceiling
Business Insider – ALBERT EDWARDS: The Fed is about to cause a bond market ‘bloodbath’ Markets are pricing in a 100% probability that the Federal Reserve will raise its benchmark rate when it meets Tuesday and Wednesday. The Fed’s most recent projection for the fed funds rate, which will be updated at the meeting, showed… Continue reading More Bond Bearishness
The Wall Street Journal – Individuals Tiptoe Further Into Long-Running Stock Rally Choice for some individual investors: miss out, or risk getting in at the top The stock-market rally presents a difficult choice for some individual investors: Miss out, or risk getting in at the top. The scars of the financial crisis have left many wary,… Continue reading Retail Piling Into Stocks
The Wall Street Journal – Wall Street’s Volatility Pioneer Searches for Latest Fear Trade A researcher whose work foreshadowed the VIX now has his eye on an entirely different barometer of market uncertainty—ambiguity Mr. Brenner, a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business who helped develop the first volatility index, now is focused on… Continue reading Forget The VIX, Here Comes The Ambiguity Index
Bloomberg Business – Crude Swoon Prompts Second Thoughts on Reflation Ahead of Fed Today’s proximate cause of the risk-off sentiment in markets: the collapse in crude-oil prices. While there’s uncertainty surrounding how long any deal between OPEC and non-OPEC nations to limit production will hold up, three things are for sure: U.S. shale has come back… Continue reading Rethinking Inflation?
Janus Capital – Bill Gross: Show Me The Money I’m with Will Rogers. Don’t be allured by the Trump mirage of 3-4% growth and the magical benefits of tax cuts and deregulation. The U.S. and indeed the global economy is walking a fine line due to increasing leverage and the potential for too high (or… Continue reading Bill Gross Speaks
The Wall Street Journal – Hedge-Fund Trump Bump Turns to Slump A revival in fortunes for hedge funds that trade across global assets, sparked by Donald Trump’s election victory, has hit trouble. These so-called macro funds, which manage around $575 billion in assets and trade bonds, currencies and stocks, made huge gains in the wake of Mr. Trump’s U.S.… Continue reading Your Daily Installment In Bashing Hedge Funds