<Click on chart for larger image> The Telegraph – The real sign that Greece’s financial turmoil is getting worse Here is a slightly surprising sign that Greece is in the classic throes of a bank run: car sales jumped by 47pc in April. It was the 20th consecutive month that car registrations of new and… Continue reading A Sign Of Increased Turmoil In Greece?
The Wall Street Journal – China Stimulus Aims at Restructuring Trillions in Local-Government Debt China is launching a broad stimulus to help local governments restructure trillions of dollars in debts while prodding banks to lend more, as fresh data add to signs of a worsening slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy. In a directive marked… Continue reading China
The Financial Times – Moody’s downgrades Chicago to junk Moody’s has stripped Chicago of its investment grade rating over its yawning pension plan deficit, potentially triggering up to $2.2bn of claims and setting back mayor Rahm Emanuel’s efforts to turn around the finances of America’s third-biggest city. The credit rating agency lowered its grade on… Continue reading Chicago’s Credit Rating Downgraded To Junk
<Click on graphic for larger image> Real Time Economics – Millennials Become the Biggest Generation in the U.S. Workforce Millennials, generally described as 18-to-34-year-olds, have moved past Generation X to become the largest generation in the American workforce, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. Using Census Bureau data, Pew found there are 53.5 million… Continue reading Millennials Now The Largest Generation In The Workforce
<Click on graphic for larger image> Arts Beat (NY Times Blog) – Picasso and Giacometti Artworks Top $120 Million Each at Christie’s Sale To a medley of whoops, hollers and gasps on Monday night, Pablo Picasso’s 1955 painting “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)” sold for $179.4 million including fees at Christie’s “Looking Forward to the… Continue reading Does A $179.4 Million Picasso Sale Signal A Top In The Market?
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<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> Comment The two charts above show the spike in bond yields is a global affair. Lots of theories have been tossed around as to why yields have run higher recently. One such theory is illustrated in the chart above. The thick black line… Continue reading The Bond Market Rout
Reuters – Oil rallies as hedge funds are caught short: Kemp Oil’s sharp rally since the middle of March has been driven by a race among bearish hedge funds to cover loss-making short positions rather than any great bullishness about the outlook. On the eve of the rally, hedge funds and other money managers had… Continue reading Crude Prices Are Not Rising On A Massive Short Cover
CNBC – Fed’s Williams: Jobs report shows ‘good momentum’ Recent jobs data show “good momentum” for the rest of the year, San Francisco Fed President John Williams told CNBC on Monday. Last week, the Labor Department announced that the U.S. economy had created 223,000 jobs in April and that the unemployment rate had touched a… Continue reading San Francisco Fed President John Williams Comments On Jobs Market
The Financial Times – Illinois bond yields rise amid worry over credit rating downgrade Illinois’ bond yields have jumped sharply after the local Supreme Court last week ruled that measures aimed at narrowing a yawning pension deficit were unconstitutional, raising the prospect of another credit downgrade for the lowest rated US state. The downward pressure… Continue reading Muni Problems
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Ruchir Sharma: The Federal Reserve Asset Bubble Machine Easy money is driving up the price of stocks, bonds, houses and other assets in a era without historical precedent Janet Yellen’s comment last week at the International Monetary Fund headquarters in Washington, D.C., that stock… Continue reading The Fed’s Bubble Machine
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