Bloomberg.com – JPMorgan’s `London Whale’ Surfaces to Say ’12 Loss Not His Fault Bruno Iksil comments on losses in his former unit in letter `I have always acted in good faith’ for markets, employer Bruno Iksil, the former JPMorgan Chase & Co. trader who became known as the “London Whale” as his unit began generating… Continue reading The London Whale Speaks
The Guardian – Xi Jinping asks for ‘absolute loyalty’ from Chinese state media Premier conducts tour of major outlets in latest sign of Beijing’s increasingly tight control over the country’s media The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has made a rare and high-profile tour of the country’s top three state-run media outlets, telling editors and reporters… Continue reading The Chinese Government And State Media
Quartz – Oil is now so cheap even pirates aren’t stealing it any more Stealing the oil from a ship is no mean feat. Oil tankers are enormous, and ships that carry expensive cargo are designed to be difficult to board. Stealing can mean hijacking the original tanker, disabling its tracking devices, taking it to… Continue reading Oil, Not Even Worth Stealing Anymore
<Click on graphic for larger image> MarketWatch – The robots are coming for jobs that pay $20 an hour or less, White House finds It’s intuitive that automation will take low-wage jobs. But the White House, in its annual economic report of the president, has broken down just how much that is so. There’s an… Continue reading The Robots Are Coming And They Are Taking Jobs
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Comment The chart below shows the Q4 2015 earnings beat rate for the S&P 500. As of Friday, February 19, 432 of the S&P 500 have reported Q4 2015 earnings. 69% beat expectations. As the chart below shows, this is about average for this metric. <Click on chart for larger image> The next chart shows… Continue reading An Earnings Update
<Click on chart for larger image> The Economist – The world economy: Out of ammo? Central bankers are running down their arsenal. But other options exist to stimulate the economy WORLD stockmarkets are in bear territory. Gold, a haven in times of turmoil, has had its best start to a year in more than three… Continue reading Judging The Effectiveness Of QE
<Click on chart for larger image> The Economist – The fallout from low interest rates (1): Nope to NIRP UNTIL this month bond traders were the most voluble complainers about the Bank of Japan’s vast programme of quantitative easing (creating money to buy bonds). The central bank’s interventions had slashed trading volumes in their market.… Continue reading Negative Interest Rates
The Wall Street Journal – Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Seize Leads for Their Parties’ Nominations Weekend wins give both candidates the upper hand in amassing delegates in next state contests Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton emerged from a weekend of voting as the clear leaders in the fight for their parties’ presidential nominations, with smoother… Continue reading Election Update
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – IEA Sees Global Oil Markets Rebalancing Next Year A global oil glut should stop ballooning next year and markets will start to rebalance, eventually forcing a rebound in oil prices, according to the International Energy Agency. In its closely followed medium-term report released Monday,… Continue reading Crude Supply/Demand
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Only Thing Worse Off Than Oil? Oil Funds For investors in products that track crude, it’s more costly to make long-term bets One of the few assets performing worse than oil is a set of products used to bet on it. The $3.86 billion… Continue reading Crude Oil ETFs
<Click on chart for larger image> Brookings – The relationship between stocks and oil prices On the surface, the tendency for stocks to fall along with oil prices is surprising. The usual presumption is that a decline in oil prices is good news for the economy, at least for net oil importers like the United… Continue reading Bernanke Chimes In On The Relationship Between Stocks & Oil