The Wall Street Journal – Human Stock Pickers Gain Against Indexes For now at least, human stock pickers are making a comeback against the overall market and rivals who just aim to clone its performance. Through the end of April, U.S. stock mutual funds that are actively managed rose 2.25%, including dividends and expenses, according… Continue reading Active vs. Passive Management
The Wall Street Journal – Lower Yields May Be Stocks’ Real Threat Contrary to the fears of many, the stock market may be able to handle rising yields. An earnings hit would be a different story…The S&P 500 now trades at about 17 times expected earnings. While that is well below the multiple of 25… Continue reading The Threat Of Lower Yields
Bloomberg.com – Hedge Funds Lose Faith in Oil Rally as OPEC Seen Boosting Supply Speculators are losing faith in the oil rally, judging that OPEC will keep increasing supply from the highest level since 2012. Their net-long position in West Texas Intermediate crude dropped 2.1 percent, as long wagers fell the most in two months… Continue reading Crude Oil Speculators
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Fed’s Evans: Overshooting Fed’s 2% Price Target May Be A Good Idea Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans renewed his call for the U.S. central bank to refrain from raising short-term interest rates this year, in remarks that said it might not be a bad idea for… Continue reading Charles Evans Promotes Overshooting 2% Inflation Target
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Greece’s Debt Battle Exposes Deeper Eurozone Flaws — Horizons To understand why Greece and its creditors have failed to put its debt burden on a sustainable path, look beyond the headlines about the intransigence of the left-wing government in Athens and the tested patience of officials in Berlin and Brussels. Blame… Continue reading Grexit
<Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – China Retakes Top Spot as the Biggest Foreign Owner of U.S. Debt It was a short-lived domination. After just a month of being the top holder of U.S. Treasury debt, Japan has once again been pushed into the No. 2 slot as China… Continue reading China Biggest Foreign Holder Of U.S. Debt Once Again
Bloomberg.com – Bubble Blowing to Continue So Long as Yellen Isn’t Raising Rates Janet Yellen will have to do more than talk about potential asset market bubbles if she is to pop any. Days after Federal Reserve Chair Yellen’s May 6 observation that stock valuations are “quite high,” Citigroup Inc. strategists led by Robert Buckland… Continue reading Popping Bubbles
None Today
<Click on graphic for larger image> Real-Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – WSJ Survey: Most Economists See Fed Raising Rates in September The Federal Reserve will wait until September to begin raising short-term interest rates, according to a growing majority of private economists polled by The Wall Street Journal. About 73% of economists in the survey,… Continue reading More On The Fed/Market Divergence On The First Hike
The Financial Times – Rising bond yields challenge US equity valuations The long-running US equity bull market has received support from a long period of slumbering bond yields. Into a seventh year, the equity bull certainly looks mature and while the S&P 500 loiters just shy of record territory, it stands less than 2 per… Continue reading Revisiting The “Fed Model”
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Epic global bond rout is a QE success story – but it won’t last The sudden surge in bond yields is a victory, a sign that markets are finally starting to believe that central banks have defeated deflation Bond yields are soaring because the world’s central banks have demonstrably… Continue reading What Causes Interest Rates To Move
The Wall Street Journal – Shale-Oil Producers Ready to Raise Production After slashing production for months, U.S. shale-oil companies say they are ready to bring rigs back into service, setting up the first big test of their ability to quickly react to rising crude prices. Last week, EOG Resources Inc. said it would ramp up… Continue reading Crude Oil’s Catch-22