<Click on graphic for larger image> Business Insider – American retail is about 2 things: Amazon and everyone else Black Friday is behind us, Cyber Monday is behind us, and the competing narratives surrounding US consumers and the US economy are out in full force. On the one side of the ledger are research firms… Continue reading Is Amazon The New Way To Spell “Retailing?”
Time.com – Black Friday Sales Down More Than $1 Billion Shoppers spent $10.4 billion at stores on Friday Shoppers this year still wanted to get a head start on their holiday gift list on Black Friday — but overall were less willing to brave the crowds. Sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday both fell in… Continue reading Black Friday Sales Disappoint
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Financial Times – Brazil’s economy shrinks by record 4.5% Brazil’s gross domestic product fell by a record 4.5 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter with agriculture and industry leading the collapse. The contraction has confirmed fears that Latin America’s largest country is on track for its worst… Continue reading Just In Time For The Olympics
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – ECB’s Split With Fed Risks Running Until Draghi Near Retirement Market indicator shows next ECB rate hike not before Nov. 2018 22% of economists say Draghi term will end with missed mandate By the time the European Central Bank raises its key interest rate again, Mario Draghi… Continue reading The ECB Set For More QE
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Companies Shy Away From Spending Growth in investments limited by uneven consumer demand, global turmoil Business investment across the U.S. is fizzling out. Companies appear reluctant to step up spending on the basic building blocks of the economy, such as machines, computers and new… Continue reading Capex
CNN/Money – Fed ends ‘too big to fail’ lending to collapsing banks The Federal Reserve is cutting its lifeline to big banks in financial trouble. The Fed officially adopted a new rule Monday that limits its ability to lend emergency money to banks. In theory, the new rule should quash the notion that Wall Street… Continue reading Updating Too Big To Fail
The Financial Times – Global defaults climb to 6-year peak of $95bn Companies have defaulted on $95bn worth of debt so far this year, with 2015 set to finish with the highest number of worldwide defaults since 2009, according to Standard & Poor’s. The figures are the latest sign financial stress is beginning to rise… Continue reading Defaults Hit A Post-Crisis Record
The Financial Times – US regulators propose powers to scrutinise algo traders’ source code Futures trading is dominated by computers, and nothing is more valuable than the “source code” of these high-powered machines. Trading groups zealously safeguard this ever-evolving code — which they call their “secret sauce” — in online “repositories” that strictly control a… Continue reading Opening Up Algos
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Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Greg Ip: The False Promise of a Rules-Based Fed Last week the House of Representatives passed a bill that would bring about the most sweeping changes to the Federal Reserve since the 1930s. At the heart of the bill is a requirement that the Fed set interest rates according… Continue reading A Rules-Based Federal Reserve
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Mickey D. Levy: The Fed’s Unwarranted Skittishness The Federal Reserve has forecast sustained economic growth when it raises the federal-funds rate. Yet in 2013-14, even before ending asset purchases under its third round of quantitative easing, the Fed expressed concerns that a one-quarter percent… Continue reading Don’t Fear The Rate Hike
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – OPEC Is Ready to Rumble Over Saudi Output Pressure is building on Saudi Arabia to rein in its oil output after a year of pumping full tilt, setting up the most contentious OPEC meeting in years. A year ago, the Organization of the Petroleum… Continue reading Oil Production