<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – The Mystery of Missing Inflation Weighs on Fed Rate Move Central bank officials predict inflation will approach their target in 2016. The trouble is they have made the same prediction for the past four years. If the Fed is again fooled, it may find… Continue reading The Fed’s Inflation Target
The Wall Street Journal – Junk-Bond Fund’s Demise Mars Vulture Investor’s Storied Career Martin Whitman has seen his firms profit by investing in bargain, unloved stocks and bonds Martin Whitman has spent over four decades buying unloved stocks and bonds, usually profiting as they rose in value. Lately, however, these investments are turning into blunders,… Continue reading This Is How You Get Fired On Wall Street
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Bond History Reveals Rate Secrets That Fed Doomsayers Don’t Get There’s been plenty of prognosticating about what will happen to the Treasury market’s unprecedented bull run once U.S. interest rates start rising from rock-bottom levels. A quick scan of history provides plenty of support for the optimists.… Continue reading Betting On A Flatter Yield Curve
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Emerging Stocks Slump to Six-Year Low Before Fed as Yuan Weakens MSCI index falls for 9th day, longest losing streak since June Rand jumps most in 7 years as Zuma backtracks on minister Emerging-market stocks headed for their lowest close in six years as investors exited riskier… Continue reading Emerging Market Stocks
Oil this year is just a dead fat guy. <Click on graphic for larger image>
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – Third Avenue Blocks Redemptions From Credit Fund Amid Losses As signs of stress mount in credit markets, a $788 million mutual fund is blocking clients from pulling their money so its holdings can be liquidated in an orderly fashion. Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management said it… Continue reading Credit Trouble
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – China’s Central Bank Signals Intention to Loosen Yuan’s Peg to Dollar PBOC says it makes more sense to measure yuan’s exchange rate against basket of currencies China’s central bank signaled its intention to change the way it manages the yuan’s value by potentially loosening… Continue reading Is China Trying To Stop The Fed Hike?
<Click on chart for larger image> Reuters – Oil slides to new seven-year low as IEA warns of worse glut Crude oil prices hit fresh seven-year lows on Friday as the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned global oversupply could worsen in the new year. Brent slipped below $39 per barrel for the first time since… Continue reading We Produce Too Much Oil
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Fed Report Says U.S. Household Net Worth Declined by $1.2 Trillion Decline in household net worth driven by $2.3 trillion decline in corporate equities Americans lost nearly $1.2 trillion in wealth in the third quarter as a shaky stock market contributed to one of… Continue reading Household Net Worth Falls In Q3
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Week – Why the Great Merger Frenzy of 2015 signals another recession The conventional wisdom is that a rising tide of mergers and acquisitions signals business confidence in the economy. But earlier this year, Andrew Ross Sorkin laid out at The New York Times how, in line with… Continue reading Is M&A Activity Signaling A Recession?
The Wall Street Journal – Is $50 Billion the Price of Repo Safety? A clearinghouse operator wants credit commitments from banks and trading firms A firm at the center of Wall Street’s plumbing is seeking $50 billion in commitments from banks and trading firms to shore up a crucial but increasingly illiquid short-term lending market,… Continue reading Repo Safety
MarketWatch – America’s middle class has lost nearly 30% of wealth There are now more middle-income families — with less of the country’s wealth The rich are getting richer and those in the middle class are getting poorer. More American households make up the middle class than 40 years ago, yet they comprise a smaller… Continue reading Struggling Middle Class