Bloomberg.com – The S&P 500 Hasn’t Seen This Many ‘All or Nothing Days’ Since 2011 Here’s another sign of just how extreme recent stock market trading has been. As Bespoke Investment Group points out, “all or nothing days,” or trading sessions when the number of advancing stocks minus the number of declining stocks in the… Continue reading Volatility Remains High
The Financial Times – Beijing’s market invasion comes at a cost Aggressive policy action is now a regular feature of global markets — Haruhiko Kuroda had his bazooka, while Ben Bernanke took to a helicopter. But in China, falling asset prices have been met with a full-scale invasion of the market, securing an expensive victory… Continue reading The Costs Of Propping Up A Stock Market
Bloomberg.com – Hedge Funds’ Sway Over Treasuries Grows as Wall Street Retreats Hedge funds are stepping up their involvement in the $12.8 trillion Treasuries market, picking up the slack from Wall Street dealers and amassing a record amount of U.S. government debt. News this week that Element Capital Management LLC, a New York hedge fund,… Continue reading Hedge Funds Pick Up Slack For Dealers In Treasury Market
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Odds Of A Fed Rate Hike China’s Forex Reserves An Historical Look At Earnings Stock Market Returns Market Correlations The S&P 500 vs Hedge Fund Returns In 2015 Credit Spreads And Stocks Crude Oil Update Unemployment Rates Labor Force Participation Rates Employment In Pictures Employment In… Continue reading Charts of the Week
The Financial Times – World Bank chief economist warns Fed to delay rate rise The US Federal Reserve risks triggering “panic and turmoil” in emerging markets if it opts to raise rates at its September meeting and should hold fire until the global economy is on a surer footing, the World Bank’s chief economist has… Continue reading 7 Days Until The Fed Meeting
Bloomberg.com – These Three Charts Illustrate the Fed’s Labor Market Dilemma For one thing, the historic relationship of labor market indicators such as the separation rate with wage growth appears to have broken down. According to the Fed’s FRB/US model, the natural rate of unemployment or the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU) in the… Continue reading Labor Market Divergences
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – Peter Coy: One Thing China Got Right Stocks plunged, monetary policy wavered, but Beijing finally fixed the “fixing.” China’s management of the world’s second-largest economy hasn’t gone swimmingly of late, but authorities have succeeded in one vital though little-noticed mission. They’ve closed the gap between the… Continue reading The Chinese Yuan
MarketWatch – Yet another measure of risk in junk-bond market flashing red Moody’s says protections for high-yield bondholders are at worst level on record Yet another measure of risk in the U.S. junk-bond market is flashing an alarming signal. Moody’s Investors Service said its Covenant Quality Index deteriorated to its worst level on record in… Continue reading Warning Sign For Junk Bonds
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics – Inside the Fight Over Productivity and Wages The top line shows worker productivity growing by 72.2%, or 1.33% per year, between 1973 and 2014. The bottom line shows median workers’ hourly compensation increasing by 9.2%, or 0.2% annually, over… Continue reading Wages And Productivity In The U.S.
Bloomberg Business – Inefficiency Gives Bonds Secret Weapon in Computer-Trading War Something strange happened last month as stocks around the world went haywire: the $8 trillion U.S. corporate-bond market worked just fine. Credit traders found themselves on an island of relative calm while warring computer algorithms bedeviled equities. Company notes in the U.S. lost just… Continue reading HFT In The Bond Market
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – Market Volatility Has Changed Immensely Volatility is not what it used to be. The Chicago Board Options Exchange’s Volatility Index, the VIX, briefly jumped to a level not seen since the depths of the financial crisis. Behind the scenes, however, its esoteric cousin, the VVIX, did… Continue reading Market Volatility