Comment On February 9, 2017 at 9 AM CT (10 AM ET, 7 AM PT and 15:00 GMT) Bianco Research, in conjunction with Arbor Research & Trading, will be hosting a webcast/teleconference moderated by Jim Bianco. Join us Thursday as we discuss the reflation trade and why we think it will be more parts inflation… Continue reading The Reflation Trade – Real Growth or Inflation
Bloomberg – Lingering Markup in Options Insurance Shows Stock Traders’ Angst It’s the persistently high premium traders are paying for equity options, visible in the difference between implied and realized volatility in the S&P 500 Index. The gap, definable as the intangible cost of stock insurance over and above what is accounted for by the market’s… Continue reading Lure of Low Volatility Looking Too Good to Last
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – China Central Bank Said to Call Bitcoin Exchanges for Talks Exchange representatives meeting officials on Wednesday Topics to be discussed said to include money laundering China’s central bank is holding a closed-door meeting with several domestic bitcoin exchanges on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said, heightening… Continue reading Bitcoin And China
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Financial Times – Why is the eurozone back in crisis over Greece? Athens faces another big debt payment and eurozone politics makes relief impossible After months out of the spotlight, Greece’s international bailout programme is working its way back up bond traders’ list of worries. Yields on Greek… Continue reading Greece Is Back!
Bloomberg Business – Demand for Treasuries Is Now a ‘Made in the U.S.A.’ Phenomenon .. In the world’s biggest debt market, domestic purchasers have been faithfully fulfilling the first half of President Donald Trump’s inauguration decree. Demand for U.S. Treasuries has moved “from global to local,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch rates strategists Carol Zhang and… Continue reading Domestic Demand For Treasuries?
The Financial Times – Central bankers face off over impact of a disorderly Brexit Carney says architecture of financial system could collapse but Draghi disagrees Europe’s most important central bankers are at loggerheads over one of the continent’s biggest economic judgment calls: does a disorderly Brexit pose a financial stability risk? For Mark Carney, Bank… Continue reading Disagreeing About Brexit
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Investors Aren’t Rushing Into U.S. Stocks Anymore The tumultuous opening weeks of the Trump administration saw investors scrambling into bonds and overseas stocks while the record-breaking hot streak for U.S. equity funds slowed. Exchange-traded funds that buy U.S. stocks took in $76.6 billion in the… Continue reading ETFs
Bloomberg.com – (February 8, 2007) HSBC to Boost Loan-Loss Provisions on Bad Mortgages HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe’s biggest bank, said it’s setting aside 20 percent more than analysts estimated for loan losses in 2006 because the company’s U.S. mortgage business is deteriorating. Home loans to risky borrowers in the U.S. are going bad faster than… Continue reading The Financial Crisis Started 10 Years Ago Today
Bloomberg Business – Fed, BOE Join Pimco’s Cold Currency War With Covert Depreciation Central banks using dovish messages to weaken currencies The Federal Reserve and Bank of England are the latest central banks to step into what Pacific Investment Management Co. says is a new “cold currency war.” While the central banks of the euro area, Japan… Continue reading Competitive Devaluation?
Bloomberg Markets – Kashkari Says Economy Still Needs Low Rates as Inflation Lags U.S. central bank still coming up short on mandates, he says Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari justified his vote last week to leave interest rates unchanged by saying inflation is in check and the U.S. job market seems to have… Continue reading Kashkari Is Dovish
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – More Gauges Tell Same Story: Lasting U.S. Wage Growth Remains Elusive Four different measures are all telling the same story: While America’s workers keep getting hired at a solid pace, they’re having difficulty finding sustained growth in their paychecks. First, January set a disappointing tone for wages at the start… Continue reading Wage Growth
The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Firms Slash Interest Tab in $100 Billion Refinancing Blitz Companies have saved more than $1 billion in annual interest costs Rising interest-rate expectations are fueling the biggest corporate-refinancing boom in years. U.S. companies refinanced $100 billion of loans in January, the largest monthly total in at least a decade,… Continue reading Refinancing