The Wall Street Journal – Investors Are Super Bullish on Stocks. That’s Worrisome Investors are very bullish on U.S. stocks. That may be an ominous signal for what’s ahead. Despite August’s slight dip, U.S. equities have had a strong summer. After a tumble following the British vote to leave the European Union in late June, the benchmark has climbed about 8%. Investors… Continue reading A Contrarian Sell For Stocks?
<Click on graphic for larger image> AQA – Peter Forbes: Fed’s Evans Rethinking Term Premium Chicago Fed President Charles Evans commented Wednesday on a potential shift in real money investors’ long run expectations for interest rates. Insurers and pension funds are expecting low short term rates to persist for longer, which may be at odds… Continue reading Fed’s Evans Rethinking Term Premium
<Click on chart for larger image> The New York Times – Big Decline in U.S. Auto Sales May Signal End of Six-Year Boom It was a good run while it lasted. But a bigger-than-expected decline in the August auto sales numbers reported on Thursday indicated that the industry’s long and robust growth cycle may have reached… Continue reading Auto Sales Disappoint
Zero Hedge – The Transformation Of Wall Street In Just Two Photos: The UBS Trading Floor In 2008 And 2016 Back in its heyday, the trading floor in UBS’ Stamford office, once the largest in the world and big enough to hold 23 basketball courts, was a symbol of everything that went right on Wall Street.… Continue reading Wall Street Now And Then
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Retailers Seek U.S. Help With Shipping Crisis Rates soar as Hanjin Shipping’s bankruptcy filing strands goods, causes confusion at ports U.S. retailers, bracing for a blow as they stock up for the crucial holiday sales season, asked the government to step in and help resolve… Continue reading More Port Problems?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Vanguard attracts nearly $200bn this year Vanguard has attracted nearly $200bn of money already this year, putting the investment group on track to smash last year’s record inflows and underscoring the big shift towards passive asset management. The poor performance of many actively managed mutual funds, coupled… Continue reading Masters of the Universe … Vanguard
<Click on cartoon for a larger image>
Comment Today at 9 AM CT (10 AM ET, 7 AM PT and 15:00 BST) Bianco Research, in conjunction with Arbor Research & Trading, will be hosting a webcast/teleconference moderated by Jim Bianco. Join us today as we discuss what the Fed will do at their next FOMC meeting, why Friday’s payroll report could be… Continue reading What To Expect From The FOMC In The Wake Of Jackson Hole
Seeking Alpha – What’s Behind The Recent Rise In U.S. Dollar Libor? Libor, a benchmark rate that some of the world’s leading banks charge each other for short-term loans, is considered a primary benchmark for short-term interest rates globally. It’s also used as a barometer for measuring the health of the banking system and for… Continue reading Government Money Market Funds vs. Prime Money Market Funds
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Boston Fed Warns of Interest-Rate ‘Trade-Off’ The Federal Reserve may be nearing an uncomfortable trade-off between what it wants to do for the economy and what needs to be done to achieve stability in the financial market, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric… Continue reading The Fed’s Third Mandate – Financial Stability
Comment The pie chart below shows a breakdown of the market value of negative rates worldwide, $13.21 trillion as of August 31, 2016. The vast majority of negative-yielding debt is denominated in yen (green) or euros (blue). <Click on chart for larger image> Many on Wall Street believe fixed income investors in these countries are… Continue reading Are Negative-Yielding Countries Buying U.S. Bonds?
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Yellen Speech Contained Clue to Reading the August Jobs Report An overlooked line in Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech last week could hold the key to whether Friday’s U.S. jobs report clinches an interest-rate increase this month. While the focus was on Yellen’s statement that the… Continue reading Previewing Payrolls