The Wall Street Journal – More Futures-Markets Investors Betting U.S. Rates Stay Near Zero Disappointing economic data over the past month have dulled fears of a Federal Reserve rate boost Futures-market bets that U.S. interest rates will stay near zero have hit the highest level since the “taper tantrum” two years ago, underscoring a broad… Continue reading The Fed And The Markets Continue To Disagree
<Click on chart for larger image> CNBC – Greece requires public sector entities to transfer cash balances to central bank Greece issued a legislative act on Monday requiring public sector entities to transfer idle cash reserves to the country’s central bank, as part of efforts to deal with a cash squeeze. Greece has been tapping… Continue reading Greece Makes A Cash Grab
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Banks Paid to Borrow as Three-Month Euribor Drops Below Zero Banks in the euro area can now get paid to look after each others’ cash for three months as the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program floods the region’s money markets with excess liquidity. The euro interbank offered… Continue reading Another Negative Interest Rate
Bloomberg.com – Major Chinese Developer Says It Can’t Pay Dollar Debts Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. became China’s first real estate company to default on its U.S. currency debt, capping a month of distress in bond markets amid an anti-corruption probe and fueling concern that losses will spread. The default coincides with the expiration of a 30-day… Continue reading Chinese Defaults
The Washington Times – Richard Rahn: Hammering global growth with faulty monetary policy Using government to depress interest rates has failed Government economic policymakers have been trying to solve a problem of too much government spending, taxing and regulation by inappropriately using monetary policy, which has not and cannot solve the fundamental problems (it is… Continue reading Faulty Monetary Policy
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Financial Times- Bond investors grumble at buyback bonanza Shareholder activists are on the prowl, and fearful executives are taking no chances. US companies are expected to hand a record $1tn to shareholders this year through dividends and stock buybacks. But not all investors are thrilled at their munificence.… Continue reading Bond Investors Hate Buybacks
The Wall Street Journal – Oil Investors Look Too Optimistic by Half The rally in oil E&P stocks looks overdone and, ultimately, self-defeating. Exploration-and-production stocks track the headline oil price pretty closely over time. So far this year, though, they have raced ahead: The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production exchange-traded fund is… Continue reading More On Bullish Oil Investors
The Wall Street Journal – Phil Gramm: What’s Wrong With the Golden Goose? ‘Secular stagnation’ isn’t to blame for lousy U.S. growth rates. Obama’s higher taxes and regulatory assault are. Since the Obama recovery began in the second quarter of 2009, public and private projections of economic growth have consistently overestimated actual performance. Six years… Continue reading Another Angle On Secular Stagnation
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Corporate Revenue Helps Explain Stock Troubles News from Greece and China disrupted U.S. markets on Friday, but the deeper problem was closer to home. First-quarter U.S. corporate revenue, now beginning to be reported, is coming in even lower than analysts’ sharply reduced forecasts had indicated. Through Friday, most big companies were… Continue reading An Earnings Update
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Investors Who See ‘Froth’ in Market Go All In for Oil They’re no dummies, Gladbach says. One of the biggest mysteries of the oil market crash is why the money hasn’t dried up. The collapse in crude prices was supposed to devastate companies and spook investors after… Continue reading Speculators Still Love Crude Oil
Bloomberg.com – Shale as World’s Swing Producer Signals ‘Jagged’ Oil Future With OPEC ceding control for the first time since the 1980s, U.S. shale oil has been anointed the world’s new “swing producer” by everyone from ConocoPhillips and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan. But can America’s oil really swing it?… Continue reading Crude Oil Supply