<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Goldman Sachs Has Some Bad News for Investors Who Like to Pick Stocks Low return dispersion and a stock market selloff combine to make life hard for active investment managers. Market uncertainty means that Kostin and team don’t expect this to change soon, making 2015 a tough year for those… Continue reading Generating Alpha
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – The New Bond Market: Debt Investors Wary as Offerings Fuel Buybacks Big U.S. companies are increasingly using the bond market for the benefit of shareholders, a move that is starting to raise alarm among some debt investors. Proceeds from some of the largest bond… Continue reading Bonds For Buybacks
The Wall Street Journal – Fed’s Williams Sees 2015 Interest Rate Rise as ‘Appropriate’ John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, said in a speech Saturday he believes it is still appropriate to raise short-term interest rates before year-end, reiterating a timeline that remains the preference of a majority of Fed… Continue reading Who Wanted To Hold Rates At Zero, Yellen Or The Majority?
<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – The Rate Debate: Fed vs. Markets The market is even more dovish than the Fed. A quick comparison of federal-funds futures and the Federal Reserve’s so-called dot plot shows that investors and traders think the central bank is going to move more slowly in upping… Continue reading The Fed vs. The Markets
Bloomberg.com – Empty Punchbowl Leaves Central Banks Powerless to Bolster Stocks Central banks are past the point of having to worry about withdrawing the punch bowl before the party gets out of hand. It’s already running dry. Where once-continued easy money would have been a recipe for rising stocks, the Federal Reserve’s decision not to… Continue reading Central Banks’ Ability To Control Stock Markets
Bloomberg.com – Who’s Left to Sell U.S. Stocks? Mood Darkens Most Since Volcker Investors hate stocks– again. Amid a six-year bull market that’s notable mainly for how little conviction there is in it, equity sentiment is plunging at a historic rate, falling by some measures at the fastest pace since Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker… Continue reading Stock Market Sentiment
The Wall Street Journal – The New Bond Market: Bigger, Riskier and More Fragile Than Ever The U.S. bond market is among the biggest financial markets in the world, with $39.5 trillion outstanding at mid-2015, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association says. That is equivalent to 1½ U.S. stock markets and nearly twice the… Continue reading Bond Market Liquidity
The Financial Times – Plunging oil prices put question mark over $1.5tn of projects Plunging oil prices have rendered more than a trillion dollars of future spending on energy projects uneconomic, according to a study that suggests that the impact on industry operators is worsening. A report published Monday says $1.5tn of potential investment globally… Continue reading The Effect Of Low Oil Prices On Future Projects
Associated Press – China party mouthpiece lashes out at Asia’s richest man The mouthpiece newspaper of China’s Communist Party has blasted Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing after he sold assets on the mainland with the world’s second-largest economy facing headwinds. The 87-year-old, nicknamed “Superman” for his sharp business acumen, has been offloading major property investments… Continue reading China Continues To Target Those Who Sell Chinese Stocks
Comment Yesterday Jim Bianco was on CNBC immediately following Janet Yellen’s press conference. To view the discussion, click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews, click here. Here is the key passage from the FOMC statement: Recent global economic and financial developments may restrain economic activity somewhat and are likely to… Continue reading The Central Banker To The Stock Market