The Financial Times – Athens repays IMF €450m, bond yields slide Greece repaid €450m it owed the International Monetary Fund on Thursday, sending bond yields sliding as investors’ showed relief it had met its deadline. Yields on the country’s shortest dated notes declined, with three-year bonds declining 54 basis points to 20.08 per cent and… Continue reading Greece Survives Another Deadline
The New York Times – In Republican Attacks on the Fed, Experts See a Shift The current debate also has revived a struggle that dates to the Fed’s creation in 1913. Republicans want to strengthen the independence of the Fed’s regional reserve banks, whose presidents participate in monetary policy decisions, while Democrats want to strengthen… Continue reading Political Polarization Sets A New Record
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Is Your Job ‘Routine’? If So, It’s Probably Disappearing The American labor market and middle class was once built on the routine job–workers showed up at factories and offices, took their places on the assembly line or the paper-pushing chain, did the same task over and over, and then… Continue reading Rise Of The Machines
Bloomberg.com – Dimon Says Once-in-3-Billion-Year Treasury Move Warning Shot JPMorgan Chase & Co. head Jamie Dimon said last year’s volatility in U.S. Treasuries is a “warning shot” to investors and that the next financial crisis could be exacerbated by a shortage of the securities. The Oct. 15 gyration, when Treasury yields fluctuated by almost 0.4… Continue reading Jamie Dimon Explains Why JP Morgan’s Models Are Wrong
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: The Fed’s Other Big Decision The Fed’s Other Big Decision – 2 Iran’s Effect On The Oil Market Iran’s Effect On The Oil Market – 2 Crude By Rail Slows Gas Prices An Earnings Preview Hope Springs Eternal For World Growth Unemployment Rates Construction and Retail… Continue reading Charts of the Week
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Business – Forget Interest Rates, the Fed Has Another Big Decision to Make in the Next Year In case exiting years of zero interest rates won’t be hard enough, Federal Reserve officials have another challenge approaching quickly: when to begin unwinding trillions of dollars of bond purchases that… Continue reading The Fed’s Other Big Decision
<Click on chart for larger image> Comment The chart above shows the market expects the Fed to first raise rates in about 8 months. As we noted late last month, the Fed’s expectations are slightly different: In Yellen’s speech on Friday, she said: “That said, it is sobering to note that many market participants appear… Continue reading Timing The First Rate Hike
Comment Jim Bianco was on Bloomberg TV this morning discussing the QE wealth effect in Europe and the possibility of a “Grexit”. To view the interview, click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews, click here. Bloomberg Business – The Great American Invasion Into Europe’s Debt Market Has Begun Yields on… Continue reading Discussing QE In Europe and “Grexit”
Bloomberg Business – Fed Minutes Guide: From Slowing Economy to Rate-Increase Timing Here’s what to look for when the Federal Reserve releases minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s March 17-18 meeting at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Washington.– The minutes may reveal whether Fed policy makers think the economy’s weakness so far this year represents… Continue reading The March FOMC Minutes Are Released Today
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Negative Earnings Expectations Mount Companies are issuing negative earnings guidance at the second highest rate on record, but that may not yield complete doom and gloom for stocks. Earnings season kicks off Wednesday when Alcoa Inc. reports results after the close. Oil’s plunge, a soaring U.S. dollar and a moderating economy… Continue reading An Earnings Preview
The Wall Street Journal – Repo Market Sees a Lending Shift as Rules Bite Short-term loans known as repos increasingly come from sources other than brokers Investors and small firms are entering the $2.6 trillion U.S. repo market, taking advantage of banks’ retreat from a key corner of the credit markets. A handful of real-estate… Continue reading The Changing Landscape Of The Repo Market