<Click on graphic for larger image> Real-Time Economics – Greg Ip: One Big Influence on Interest Rates Is About to Reverse Low interest rates are usually attributed to low inflation, weak economic growth and supereasy monetary policy. But there’s another, deep-seated factor that doesn’t get much attention: demographics. The proportion of the developed world’s population… Continue reading Demographics
Vanity Fair – 2 Reasons the Tech Bubble Could Bust Sooner than You Think It’s Silicon Valley vs. China. From another perspective, however, things are beginning to look a little scary. The private markets have become so frothy, many have contended, partly because the Federal Reserve has pumped tons of cash into the system for… Continue reading Bubble Worry
CNBC – Insiders sending an ominous market signal The recent jump in stock prices has one important group of disbelievers. Corporate insiders have been dumping shares at the highest pace in 4½ years, according to market data firm TrimTabs. The selling averaged $450 million a day in November, the highest since May 2011. That has… Continue reading Stock Market Insiders
Bloomberg.com – Yellen Defends Seven Years of Low Interest Rates in Letter to Nader Says savers would’ve been worse off without easy Fed policy Fed will go gradually after first rate rise, Yellen says Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, responding to a letter calling for higher interest rates on behalf of savers, said Americans would… Continue reading Yellen Writes A Letter
The movie opens in limited release December 11 and wider release December 23
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – S&P 500 Profits Fall $25 billion in First Three Quarters of 2015 Profits from S&P 500 companies have fallen by about $25 billion in the first three quarters of this year, and a further drop is expected before the end of 2015 as energy companies battle with… Continue reading An Earnings Update
<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Fed Hike: Moving From ‘When’ to ‘How’ The market has pretty much gotten the message: barring some unforeseen calamity or significant turn in the economy, the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its December meeting. That covers the “when.” The folks at Bank of… Continue reading The Mechanics Of The Rate Hike
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Low Crude Prices Catch Up With the U.S. Oil Patch After stunning global rivals by continuing to produce, even the most efficient U.S. companies are in a bind The ingenuity and easy money that allowed American oil companies to keep pumping through a year-long… Continue reading Crude’s Breakeven Price
The Wall Street Journal – Junk Bonds Join the Monetary-Policy Battle The anticipated divergence in monetary policy between the U.S. and the eurozone is moving many markets. Junk bonds could be a key battleground for 2016. High-yield bond markets have been in choppy waters. Yields have been rising since mid-2014 and now stand at 8%… Continue reading Junk Bonds
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Is the Surge in Stock Buybacks Good or Evil? Buybacks have drawn criticism from some fund managers including Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock Inc., which oversees $4.5 trillion in assets. He has said some companies invest too much in buybacks and too little… Continue reading Share Buybacks
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Why the Housing Rebound Hasn’t Lifted the U.S. Economy Much Home equity has roughly doubled to $12.1 trillion since house prices hit bottom in 2011, according to the Federal Reserve. As a result, a key gauge of housing wealth—homeowners’ equity as a share of… Continue reading Home Equity
The Wall Street Journal – Emerging-Market Fund Investors Too Slow to Catch Peak Returns Emerging-market stock funds have a record of posting large gains, but investors often put their money in too late and keep it there too long. The latest selloff is a case in point: The flight of funds accelerated nearly six years… Continue reading Chasing Returns In Emerging Market Funds