<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Copper Tumbles to Six-Year Low as Industrial Metals Extend Slump Codelco cuts China fee by most since global financial crisis Dollar index trades near highest level in more than a decade Copper plunged to the lowest intraday price since May 2009 on concern Chinese demand is slowing… Continue reading Tumbling Metals
<Click on graphic for larger image> Quartz – Japan just entered its fourth recession in five years The world’s third-largest economy has been spending more time shrinking than growing these days. Japan’s GDP appears to have shrunk 0.8% in the third quarter after a 0.7% contraction in the second. Over all, its economy has contracted… Continue reading Japan Is In Another Recession
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Reuters – Investors face quagmire of falling earnings, higher rates Investors may wade into unknown territory next month as the Federal Reserve readies the first rate hike in nearly a decade amid a corporate earnings recession. S&P 500 earnings are on track to close their first reporting season of negative growth since the Great Recession… Continue reading An Earnings Update
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – In Seeking Policy Clues, Not All Fed Speak Is Equal When it comes to watching the Federal Reserve, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on Atlanta and San Francisco, according to a Wall Street Journal survey of economic forecasters. Public statements by… Continue reading Deciphering Fed Speak
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Quiet U.S. Ports Spark Slowdown Fears America’s busiest ports are sending a warning about the U.S. economy. For the first time in at least a decade, imports fell in both September and October at each of the three busiest U.S. seaports, according to data… Continue reading U.S. Imports Decline
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Debt Market Distortions Go Global as Nothing Makes Sense Anymore Across developed markets, the conventional relationship between government debt — long considered the risk-free benchmark — and other assets has been turned upside-down. Nowhere is that more evident than in the U.S., where lending to the government… Continue reading Negative Swap Spreads
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Don’t Fight the Fed: It’s Lower for Longer for Bond Yields Bond investors aren’t fighting the Fed, but they aren’t panicking about higher interest rates, either. Futures-market bets on rising U.S. interest rates have reached a six-month high, reflecting expectations that the Federal Reserve… Continue reading Forecasting Rates
The Wall Street Journal – The Fed’s Inconsistent Capital Rules The Fed has recently decided that the way to make giant banks safer is to encourage them to run up more debt. And the regulators promise that this time institutions that lend to banks will have to live with the consequences. To believe this will… Continue reading Critiquing Fed Regulation On Capital
USA Today – New obstacles for stocks: pricey P-E ratios There’s a downside to the stock market’s big upside surge off the August lows: Stock valuations are again on the pricey side, a headwind that could limit gains going forward. After rallying as much as 13% from its 2015 closing low of 1867.61 on Aug.… Continue reading Stock Valuations
Bloomberg.com – Yuan Set to Join IMF Basket in Step Toward Currency Big Leagues China’s yuan is poised to enter the big leagues of global currencies, according to the judgment of the International Monetary Fund. IMF staff have recommended the yuan be included in the fund’s Special Drawing Rights reserve-currency basket, alongside the U.S. dollar,… Continue reading The Yuan As A Reserve Currency
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