Barron’s – Jim Grant Is Bullish on Gold, Bearish on Kraft The founder of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer foretells fiat money’s end game, and a bull market in metals. For the past 33 years, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer has chronicled the ups and downs of financial markets, its elegant prose and opportunistic investment ideas rendering it… Continue reading Jim Grant Speaks
The New York Times – Why Is the Stock Market So High? Ask the Bond Market This time, though, many of the factors that typically propel a rising market are absent: Corporate earnings aren’t strong, the economy isn’t booming, and stock prices aren’t cheap. None of those fundamental indicators have been auspicious, but it hasn’t mattered… Continue reading Stocks vs. Bonds
Bloomberg.com – Growing Oil Glut Shows Investors There’s Nowhere to Go But Down Money managers have never been more certain that oil prices will drop. They increased bets on falling crude by the most ever as stockpiles climbed to the highest seasonal levels in at least two decades, nudging prices toward a bear market. The excess… Continue reading The Oil Glut
The Financial Times – Fears grow over Wall St’s appetite for securities-based lending The brochures tend to show men in knitwear on the deck of a yacht, or women stretching out with a book on a sun porch. The slogans talk of “unlocking value” and “putting assets to work”. What could be more wholesome, in short,… Continue reading Securitization On The Rise Again
The Wall Street Journal – This Boring Service Is Suddenly a Big Concern for Treasurys Bank of New York will soon be the only bank left settling trades J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s retreat from a mundane but crucial settlement role in the $13 trillion U.S. Treasury market poses a fresh challenge for regulators seeking to… Continue reading Who Will Be Left To Settle Trades?
<Click on cartoon for larger image>
<Click on image above to view video> Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC with Rick Santelli yesterday discussing the markets and the Fed. To view the interview, click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews, click here. CNBC – Jim Bianco: Fed is letting inmates run the asylum CNBC’s Rick Santelli… Continue reading Timing The Fed Hike
The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Economy Grew at a Disappointing 1.2% in 2nd Quarter The U.S. economic growth sputtered this spring with cautious businesses largely offsetting more robust consumer spending. Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the U.S., grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.2% in… Continue reading Market Capitalization As A Percentage Of GDP
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Felder Report – Over The Past 50 Years An Earnings Recession Of This Magnitude Has Never Failed To Trigger A Bear Market It’s earnings season once again and it looks as if, as a group, corporate America still can’t find the end of its earnings decline since profits… Continue reading A Look At Poor Earnings’ Effect On Stocks
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Homeownership Rate Falls to Five-Decade Low The U.S. homeownership rate fell to the lowest level in more than 50 years in the second quarter of 2016, a reflection of the lingering effects of the housing bust, financial hurdles to buying and shifting demographics across the… Continue reading Homeownership Rate Falls To Lowest Level In 50 Years
<Click on graphic for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – U.S. Stock Markets Have Become a Lot Less Exciting This Month If it feels like U.S. stock markets have become a lot more quiet, it’s not some post-Brexit hangover. It’s because trading in U.S. stocks has become far more muted in July. The CBOE Volatility Index… Continue reading The Seasonal Nature Of Market Volatility
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Investors Pulling Money out of Prime Money Funds Assets in money market funds that invest in short-term corporate debt securities have fallen to 17-year lows, according to new data from the Investment Company Institute, a fund industry trade group. Investors are pulling their money… Continue reading New Rules In Money Market Funds Lead To Outflows