The Wall Street Journal – Families Still Haven’t Fully Recovered from the Recession In some ways, U.S. families still haven’t fully recovered from the recession. Data released Thursday by the Labor Department shows that the number of families with at least one unemployed member fell to 6.5 million last year from 7.7 million in 2013. But… Continue reading Will The Middle Class Ever Recover From The Recession?
<Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics – U.S. Wages Are Historically Great, Or They’re Awful. It Depends on Your Preferred Inflation Measure The PCE index is persistently lower partly because it tries to account for the way price changes might cause consumers to substitute one item for another. It also includes a… Continue reading Wage Growth And Inflation
Bloomberg.com – Michael Lewis: Crash Boys The first question that arises from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s case against Navinder Singh Sarao is: Why did it take them five years to bring it? A guy living with his parents next to London’s Heathrow Airport enters a lot of big, phony orders to sell U.S. stock… Continue reading Michael Lewis On Navinder Singh Sarao
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The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: Fed’s Rate Decisions Hang on Dollar, Growth Concerns The strong U.S. dollar and an unsteady global economy are emerging as primary concerns for Federal Reserve officials as they prepare for a policy meeting next week to consider the timing of the first interest-rate increase since before the financial… Continue reading Timing The First Rate Hike
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – New-Home Prices Are on Fire Two different segments of the housing market are yielding two different price trends. When discussing Wednesday’s news that existing home sales climbed in March, National Association of Realtors chief economist Lawrence Yun said the 7.8% yearly rise in March’s median price was unsustainable. “This… Continue reading Breaking Down Home Prices
The Financial Times – Federal Reserve prepares toolkit for higher rates The RRP has been set up under the control of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s markets desk. It will pull cash from the financial system via short-term loans of Treasuries from the Fed’s balance sheet to a wide array of players including… Continue reading The Mechanics Of Raising Rates
CNBC – Bill Gross: German bunds are ‘the short of a lifetime’ The Janus Capital bond guru believes that German debt is representing a huge opportunity—for short sellers. The surge in the 10-year version of the security and its tumbling yields have ripened them up for a bet in the other direction, Gross said on… Continue reading Bill Gross Speaks, Markets Respond
Bloomberg.com – Greece, Creditors Haven’t Discussed ‘Plan B,’ Official Says Greece and its creditors haven’t discussed having the country miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund or default as agreement over bailout disbursements remains beyond reach, a senior Greek government official said. If Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meets with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during… Continue reading Grexit
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Jon Hilsenrath: Digging Deeper Into the Strange Seasonality of Fed Decision-Making Many of the Fed’s biggest decisions since the 2007-2009 crisis have happened between the months of August and December. The Fed’s second bond-buying program (QE2) was launched in November 2010. Interest rate guidance tied to calendar dates was… Continue reading Is Seasonality In GDP Data Affecting FOMC Decision Making?
Reuters – CME Group says flash crash was not caused by futures market CME Group Inc on Wednesday denied allegations that the futures markets, which prosecutors are accusing a London-based trader of having illegally manipulated, caused the May 2010 Wall Street “flash crash.” “We did a thorough analysis of all activity in our markets during… Continue reading More On The One-Man Flash-Crashing Machine
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