<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Corporate Profits Climb as GDP Ticks Down to 1.1% Key measure of corporate profits rose this spring alongside modest growth in the overall economy A divide at the heart of the U.S. economy—consumers ramping up spending while businesses pulled back—has left overall growth stuck… Continue reading Falling Corporate Profits With New Price Highs
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Economist – Law of Averages Star funds rarely outperform for long WHEN Citadel, a Chicago-based hedge fund, was bleeding money during the global financial crisis, its boss, Ken Griffin, says CNBC, a broadcaster, parked a van outside its doors to chronicle its demise. Last year CNBC crowned Mr… Continue reading Past Performance Is Not A Guarantee Of Future Results
The Wall Street Journal – Kenneth Rogoff: The Sinister Side of Cash When I tell people that I have been doing research on why the government should drastically scale back the circulation of cash—paper currency—the most common initial reaction is bewilderment. Why should anyone care about such a mundane topic? But paper currency lies at… Continue reading The Use Of Cash In The Criminal World
The Financial Times – Brexit: apocalypse, no Brexageddon? Brexitastrophe? Whatever your choice of compound noun, disaster should feel more, well, disastrous. The charts of economic data refuse to show the expected right-angled precipice. Company statements — pace London estate agents — have not registered much of a Brexit effect. Sure, there are some nasty survey… Continue reading Brexit’s Fallout
The Financial Times – Carlyle weighs withdrawal from hedge funds Carlyle is weighing whether to withdraw from its hedge fund activities, as the private equity group struggles with its offerings and as one of its remaining vehicles has shrunk by almost 90 per cent in two years. One of the hedge funds majority owned by Carlyle,… Continue reading Hedge Fund Industry Claims Another Victim
Business Insider – The Bank of Japan is worried about a stock market crash No central bank of a developed country equals the Bank of Japan in trying to manipulate the stock market up by buying equities. The BOJ has done this for years. With breath-taking ineffectiveness. So on July 28, the BOJ announced another… Continue reading The Bank Of Japan’s Stock Purchases
The Wall Street Journal – The Price of the Calm After the Storm Policy makers have ensured that markets are calm, but distortions are rife As central bankers prepared for their annual summertime mountain gathering a year ago, a storm was raging in global markets. This year, conditions are much calmer. The power of policy has… Continue reading Putting The Markets To Sleep
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World Economic Forum – Jackson Hole: what the world needs from the Fed This year’s Kansas City Fed Jackson Hole symposium is aptly titled as “Designing Resilient Monetary Policy Frameworks for the Future”. What we need to know is the narrative, which story we are part of – not the relatively mundane question of whether the… Continue reading All Eyes On Jackson Hole
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – September Fed Bets Jump to 1-in-3 From Zero as Yellen Speech Key Traders see one-in-three odds of higher U.S. interest rates next month as more Federal Reserve officials joined the chorus arguing the case for policy tightening before Chair Janet Yellen speaks Friday. Implied probability in futures… Continue reading Odds Of A September Rate Hike Ahead Of Jackson Hole
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: Years of Fed Missteps Fueled Disillusion With the Economy and Washington In the past decade Federal Reserve officials have been flummoxed by a housing bubble that cratered the financial system, a long stretch of slow growth they failed to foresee and inflation persistently undershooting… Continue reading No Love For The Fed
<Click on graphic for larger image CNBC – QE Infinity: Are we heading into the unknown? Markets are currently riding on the wave of uncertainty and speculation over whether the world’s central banks will continue to pump in more and more cash into the economy though bond-buying programs known as quantitative easing (QE). But as we… Continue reading The QE Infinity Trap