<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – How Low Can Interest Rates Go? Try Negative 4.5% The Bank of Japan was not the first to introduce negative interest rates, but its move seems to have kicked the door wide open for other nations considering the move. That has strategists and economists asking… Continue reading How Low Can You Go?
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Greg Ip: As Economy Suffers, Economic Theory Flourishes French economist Thomas Piketty took the U.S. by storm in 2014 with “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” a pessimistic study of rising inequality in Western society. Now the American economist Robert Gordon follows with “The Rise… Continue reading Productivity Under The Economic Theory Lens
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Buyback Engine at Full Throttle No Brake on Worst S&P 500 Start Amid the worst start for stocks ever, one long-time buyer is standing firm: U.S. companies. Whether that’s reason for optimism is debatable. American corporations repurchased more of their own shares in the first four weeks… Continue reading Interpreting Buyback Activity
The Financial Times – Maersk warns business conditions worse than during 2008 crisis AP Møller-Maersk warned that it was facing conditions significantly worse than the financial crisis after it plunged to a large net loss as global trade growth ground to a halt last year. The Danish shipping-to-oil conglomerate has been hit by the slump… Continue reading One More Data Point In The Slowdown In Shipping
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Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: The 30-Year Is Off To Its Best Start Ever… …As Is Gold… …But Stocks Are Off To Their Worst Start Ever Returns Since The Fed Hiked Rates How Bad Are European Banks? Election Betting China’s Capital Outflows Continue At $100B Month No Hike Until 2017? iPath’s… Continue reading Charts of the Week
The Wall Street Journal – Yellen Flags Risks to Economic Outlook That Could Delay Rate Increases Fed chairwoman says U.S. financial conditions ‘have recently become less supportive of growth’ Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen flagged risks to the economic outlook that could delay the central bank’s plans for raising short-term interest rates, in prepared remarks… Continue reading Questions For Janet
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – (February 5, 2016) Treasuries Extend Best Start to Year Since the Financial Crisis Tumbling global stock prices and oil near 12-year lows have sparked investors to seek the safety of government debt and spurred Treasuries to a 2.8 percent gain this year, the most since 2008. Benchmark… Continue reading The 30-Year Is Off To Its Best Start Ever
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – The High Consequences of Low Interest Rates Stock-market selloff is latest sign that many of the gains of low rates have been harvested A little more than a month after the Federal Reserve lifted its benchmark rate from near zero, rates across the market are… Continue reading Low Rates
CNBC – From ZIRP to NIRP: What’s the Fed’s next move? Negative interest rates in the U.S. may seem like a far-fetched idea, but the Federal Reserve is telling banks to prepare, just in case. For the first time ever, the governing agency and U.S. central bank is requiring banks to include, in a round… Continue reading More On Negative Rates
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – AP Moller-Maersk Hit by Perfect Storm Danish conglomerate AP Moller-Maersk A/S said Wednesday that it swung to a hefty fourth-quarter net loss as tumbling freight rates and sluggish trade growth hit its key shipping business, while its oil unit suffered from multiyear low oil… Continue reading Another Sign Of Weak Shipping
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Europe’s ‘doom-loop’ returns as credit markets seize up ‘We all know that QE2 is not really going to work but the market says “I’m a smoker, I know it kills me, but so long as I can get cigarettes, I’m happy” Credit stress in the European banking system has… Continue reading Problems in Credit Markets