Bloomberg Business – One Sign Americans Won’t See Big Raises Anytime Soon U.S. employers are hiring more workers who previously weren’t even looking for a job The good news is that people are feeling optimistic enough about their chances — whether they just got out of school or were fired in the downturn — that… Continue reading Wages In The U.S.
CNBC – Jeff Cox: Hedgies all in on stocks; here’s how to play it After years of underperforming the market, hedge funds have gotten hot on stocks. Allocations in the $3 trillion industry have turned to their most bullish positions ever, with a net-long exposure of 57 percent entering 2015, according to a Goldman Sachs… Continue reading Talking Hedge Funds
<Click on chart for larger image> Comment The chart above shows the Bloomberg Surprise Index for the housing sector. It measures housing statistics relative to consensus estimates. Currently the index is below zero, meaning the data is disappointing estimates. Additionally, the index is still falling and is approaching some of the lower readings in the… Continue reading Is Housing Struggling?
The Financial Times – Oil slide could trigger Opec emergency meeting Members of Opec have discussed holding an emergency meeting if crude continues to slide, according to Nigeria’s oil minister, in a sign of their growing alarm over the impact of a lower oil price on their economies. The comments by Diezani Alison-Madueke come three… Continue reading Is OPEC About To Blink?
<Click on graphic for larger image> Bloomberg – Meet Wall Street Refugees Running Bonds at Freddie Mac It’s Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-backed mortgage giant that collapsed in 2008, along with its larger cousin, Fannie Mae. Today, after multibillion-dollar bailouts, both effectively are still wards of the state. Which is why what’s happening inside Freddie Mac… Continue reading Freddie Mac
<Click on graphic for larger image> The New York Times – Jared Bernstein: We Keep Flunking Forecasts on Interest Rates, Distorting the Budget Outlook Government economists try to predict the future of lots of indicators, including G.D.P., unemployment and inflation. Their record isn’t great, whether here or overseas. No less a figure than the Queen… Continue reading Guessing On Interest Rates
The Economist – The demand side The economics curriculum is evolving, but too slowly for some “I DON’T care who writes a nation’s laws, or crafts its advanced treatises, if I can write its economics textbooks.” So said Paul Samuelson, an American economist who more than achieved his aim by producing a bestseller. But debate… Continue reading Teaching Economics
The Wall Street Journal – Robert E. Rubin: The Search for a Monetary-Policy Wizard and Political Moral Hazard Relying on central bankers to solve the world’s economic woes reduces public pressure on elected officials to act. The three major democratic advanced economies—the eurozone, Japan and the U.S.—continue to experience significant economic challenges. The eurozone is… Continue reading Trader Bob Speaks
Bloomberg – The Fed’s Own Data Show U.S. Manufacturers Don’t Share Its Optimism Factories are cutting expansion plans just as the Fed sees stronger growth ucked away in last week’s report on industrial production from the Federal Reserve was an important piece of news: Manufacturers, miners and utility companies don’t seem as optimistic as monetary policy… Continue reading Slowing Manufacturing?
CBS News – Survey sheds new light on Americans’ savings habits Americans appear to be doing a better job of saving, with two-thirds reporting they have emergency funds and more than half saying they’re saving at least 5 percent of their incomes, according to the latest American Saves Week survey. As in previous surveys, those… Continue reading Why You Cannot Trust Surveys