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Hong Kong GDP Goes Negative, Signal For Mainland China?

May 13, 2016

<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Hong Kong’s Economy Unexpectedly Contracts in First Quarter Falling retail sales, weakening property weighing on growth Sentiment hurt by sluggish global environment, government says Hong Kong’s economy unexpectedly contracted in the first quarter as falling retail sales and a weakening property market weigh on the city. Gross… Continue reading Hong Kong GDP Goes Negative, Signal For Mainland China?

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The Future of Saudi Arabia

May 13, 2016

The Economist – Saudi Arabia’s oil policy: Beyond OPEC The kingdom’s new oilman-in-chief will have less time for the cartel Speculation is already rife that his appointment marks the start of a new Saudi push to pump more oil. The abrupt removal of Mr Naimi follows his effort last month to forge an agreement to… Continue reading The Future of Saudi Arabia

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Cartoons

May 13, 2016

None Today

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Junk Bond ETF Update

May 12, 2016

MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Investors Just Pulled a Lot of Money Out of Junk Bonds. Should We Worry? In December, the market for junk bonds sold off sharply. In January, the rest of the markets did as well. Speculative-grade corporate debt traditionally has a reputation for being the canary in the coal mine when it… Continue reading Junk Bond ETF Update

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Negative Yields

May 12, 2016

<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Bond Traders Are Worried About Negative U.S. Treasury Yields The proliferation of negative government bond yields has largely been confined to Europe and Japan, where central banks have taken interest rates below zero in efforts to stoke their economies. But in the U.S., where… Continue reading Negative Yields

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Gold Demand

May 12, 2016

<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Gold Fund Buying Frenzy Spurs Demand to Second-Highest Ever Gold demand surged to the second-highest level ever as investors piled into funds, doubling investment in the metal. Global demand in the first quarter climbed 21 percent from a year earlier to 1,289.8 metric tons, the World Gold… Continue reading Gold Demand

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Has The BoJ Run Out Of Ammo?

May 12, 2016

<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – In Japan’s Economic Extremity, Few Ideas Are Too Extreme After nearly two decades of watching Japan fight stagnation with increasingly aggressive doses of monetary medicine, some economists are now floating policy prescriptions from the Twilight Zone of central banking. For some time, the Bank… Continue reading Has The BoJ Run Out Of Ammo?

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Stocks Are Not GDP Futures & Never Have Been

May 12, 2016

<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Fed Economist Says Stop Relying on Stocks for Recession Signals Indexes such as the S&P 500 aren’t great economic proxies Too many manufacturers in the stock market skews the analysis Turbulence in stocks and bonds was part of the Federal Reserve’s calculus for slowing interest rate increases… Continue reading Stocks Are Not GDP Futures & Never Have Been

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Manufacturing Jobs

May 12, 2016

<Click on table for larger image> The Washington Post – A staggering number of people with factory jobs still need government help Philadonna Wade works the night shift at the Detroit Chassis plant in Avon, Ohio, finishing off truck axles before they ship off to one of the big Ford factories nearby. It is heavier… Continue reading Manufacturing Jobs

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The Dollar Index

May 12, 2016

<Click on graphic for larger image> Arbor Quantitative Analytics – Peter Forbes: USD Still Favored to Strengthen The Bloomberg US Dollar Index pulled back Wednesday but remains 1.85% above the low close (1156.29) from May 2. Further gains are still favored though, particularly against the Euro and Pound. A rising US Dollar, and corresponding tighter… Continue reading The Dollar Index

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Active vs. Passive

May 12, 2016

<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Peter Kraus: Why the era of the ‘closet benchmarker’ has to end As active equity managers, we’ve all been on the hook lately to justify our value proposition. And we should be, since the facts clearly show that as an industry, we have not consistently… Continue reading Active vs. Passive

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Wealth Inequality

May 12, 2016

Bloomberg.com – Narayana Kocherlakota: The Fed Made the Poor Poorer Have the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policies contributed to wealth inequality? Probably, but not in the way the central bank’s detractors think. Critics of the Fed’s efforts to support economic growth often argue that policies such as low interest rates and asset purchases have disproportionately benefited… Continue reading Wealth Inequality