<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – China Dumping More Than Treasuries as U.S. Stocks Join Fire Sale For the past year, Chinese selling of Treasuries has vexed investors and served as a gauge of the health of the world’s second-largest economy. The People’s Bank of China, owner of the world’s biggest foreign-exchange reserves,… Continue reading Foreigners Sell U.S. Assets
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Machines Beat Humans in Hedge Fund Quest to Time Market Bottom In a historically bad year for hedge funds, one of their close relatives is thriving. Computer-driven quants, which pick shares based on factors like momentum and size, have been the… Continue reading Quant Funds
The Wall Street Journal – China’s Yuan Shudders Despite Beijing’s Campaign to Steady the Currency Anxiety is building around the yuan, as the Chinese currency briefly fell to its weakest level against the dollar in more than five years on Wednesday. The yuan’s tumble early in the day was partly driven by MSCI Inc. ’s… Continue reading The Yuan
MarketWatch – Caroline Baum: Have businesses really run out of people to hire? Throughout the seven-year old U.S. expansion, as the unemployment rate tumbled from a peak of 10% in 2009 to a low of 4.7% last month, policy makers have been focused on the slack in the labor market. Yes, slack. While that may… Continue reading The Jobs Market
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Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Probability Of A 2016 Rate Hike Now Gone New Dots 2016 Dots Progression 2017 Dots Progression 2018 Dots Progression Long-Term Dots Progression Fed Verbiage The More Extreme The Policy, The Bigger The Words Brexit Update – 1 Brexit Update – 2 Brexit Update – 3 Brexit… Continue reading Charts of the Week
Bloomberg.com – Why Bookies Are Still Pretty Sure Brexit Isn’t Going to Happen While polls show the U.K.’s Brexit vote poised on a knife’s edge, bookies remain fairly confident the nation will stay in the European Union. Most of the biggest betting firms and exchanges in the U.K., Ireland and beyond place a 60 percent… Continue reading Brexit, Still Betting (Hoping?) The Polls Are Wrong
The Financial Times – Brexit fears fuel market rush for safety Sterling and UK stocks hammered in historic rally in government bonds The prospect of Britons voting to leave the EU next week fuelled global market upheaval on Tuesday, with investors rushing for safety and sending the UK currency and stocks to their lowest levels… Continue reading Brexit And Searching For Safety
<Click on chart for a larger image> The Wall Street Journal – ‘Brexit’ Vote: Investors Go From Denial to Fear In the case of Brexit, there is fierce debate on whether the effects for the rest of the world would extend beyond another summer selloff. But in the short run, it is hard to believe… Continue reading Brexit And The Markets
CNBC – Why negative rates are a big deal and the Fed’s hands may be tied It would seem that, in a matter of months, the world has become a pretty scary place. Nowhere is that better reflected than in the historic drop in interest rates around the world. In the U.K., which votes next… Continue reading Negative Rates In Perspective
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Buffett Lunch Auction Draws $3.46 Million Bid, Tying Record Warren Buffett’s annual charity lunch auction drew a winning bid of $3.46 million, matching the record. That final offer came from an anonymous donor, tying the record set by another bidder in 2012 who chose to remain unknown.… Continue reading Lunch With Warren
The Financial Times – The demise of the ‘risk-free’ rate in markets Quantitative easing programmes are changing the role of government bonds in financial markets Many theoretical concepts find only imperfect proxies in the real world but that is of little consequence if the imperfections are well understood and fairly stable over time. However, the… Continue reading The Role Of Bonds In A QE World