Bloomberg.com – EU Said to Agree On Balance to 7 Billion-Euro Greece Loan Euro-area finance ministers agreed in principle to extend a 7 billion-euro ($7.6 billion) bridge loan to Greece, according to an official familiar with the decision. The loan is due to be announced on Friday once national parliaments have voted on the bailout… Continue reading Greece
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Yellen: Fed to Release New Emergency Lending Rules This Fall Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Wednesday the Fed plans to release a revised rule this fall that will limit its emergency lending authority. The 2010 Dodd-Frank law required the Fed to write a rule restraining the Fed’s ability… Continue reading The Fed As Lender Of Last Resort
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Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Why Does The Fed Want To Raise Rates? Q2 Earnings Season Starts This Week Q2 Earnings Season Starts This Week – 2 Q2 Earnings Season Starts This Week – 3 CPI Component Price Changes Over The Last Decade Retail Sales Falls China’s Harsh Stock Market Policy… Continue reading Charts of the Week
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – Yellen Has Tough Time Convincing Traders She’ll Raise Rates Soon Janet Yellen has work to do if she’s going to convince the holdouts in the bond market that the Federal Reserve will raise U.S. interest rates this year. A Morgan Stanley index based on futures trading… Continue reading Timing The First Rate Hike
The Wall Street Journal – Inflation Is Low, but U.S. Consumers Still Feel a Pinch Federal Reserve officials often note their concern about low U.S. inflation, which has been well below the central bank’s target for three years. That lament might surprise consumers who are paying more every year for cable services, car insurance and… Continue reading How To Understand Inflation
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – Retail Sales in U.S. Unexpectedly Fall on Broad-Based Drop Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly dropped in June, curbing optimism about the strength of the rebound in consumer spending during the second quarter. Purchases decreased 0.3 percent after a 1 percent advance in May that was smaller… Continue reading Retail Sales Falls
24/7 Wall St – OPEC Forecasts Crude Oil Demand Growth for 2015 and 2016 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) released its July Oil Market Report Monday morning, and the cartel raised its forecast of 2015 global demand growth by 100,000 barrels a day to 1.28 million. Total consumption in 2015 is now pegged… Continue reading Forecasting Crude Oil Supply
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg View – Barry Ritholtz: Something to Like in the Iran Deal While the world is distracted by the unending Greek saga (will it or won’t it leave the euro?) and the epic Chinese stock-market meltdown (and manipulation), something really important is going on. Three words sum it up:… Continue reading Iran’s Impact On Energy Prices
The Bond Buyer – New Player Seeks to Revive VRDO Market Clarity Bidrate Alternative Trading System, a division of Arbor Research & Trading, LLC, is signing up investors and lining up potential issuers for an attempt to “revolutionize and rejuvenate” the variable rate demand obligation market. “Our goals include deepening and broadening the market, a… Continue reading Reviving The VRDO Market
Reuters.com – Exclusive: Greece needs debt relief far beyond EU plans – Secret IMF report Greece will need far bigger debt relief than euro zone partners have been prepared to envisage so far due to the devastation of its economy and banks in the last two weeks, a confidential study by the International Monetary Fund… Continue reading The IMF Slams Greece
The Wall Street Journal – China Surprises With 7% Growth in Second Quarter China’s growth remained at 7% in the second quarter, a level economists had thought would be hard to reach amid broad signs that Beijing’s policies to jump-start the world’s second-largest economy hadn’t yet taken hold. Economists had expected that a large jump… Continue reading China Grows