MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – The ECB’s (Losing) Battle Against Deflation The European Central Bank is fighting a losing battle against deflation. That’s because while some of the region’s deflationary pressures are domestically produced, others are being driven by global economic forces against which the ECB has only limited tools. The domestic deflationary forces are fairly… Continue reading Europe’s Deflationary Problems
Conference Call Presentation/Charts of the Week Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/011515.mp3|titles=Conference Call ] Topics Covered This Week Include: What Message Are World Markets Telling Us? What Message Are World Markets Telling Us? – 2 What Message Are World Markets Telling Us? – 3 Market And Fed Expectations What Does Patient Mean? A Look At Earnings Season TIPS Inflation… Continue reading Conference Call Presentation/Charts of the Week
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Retail Sales Fall 0.9% in December Sales Rose 4% in 2014, Smallest Annual Increase Since Recession Ended U.S. consumers pulled back on spending at retailers last month, a sign shoppers may have become more cautious as the holiday season ended. U.S. sales at… Continue reading Why Is Crude Oil Collapsing?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – US oil production to rise US oil production will increase both this year and next despite the 60 per cent slide in oil prices since mid-June and an Opec policy designed to rein in the North American shale boom, the US government said. The forecast… Continue reading Your Daily Dose Of Crude Oil Stories
The Financial Times – World Bank cuts forecast for growth The World Bank has cut its forecast for global growth, warning that the world economy remained overly reliant on the “single engine” of the US recovery. The Bank said it expected lower oil prices to provide a boost to global activity. But it warned several… Continue reading World Growth
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Nerves Rattled in U.S. Equities as S&P 500 Volatility Turns Ugly To Paul Zemsky, the challenge in the stock market is to keep your head while others are losing theirs. “As an investor, what I’m thinking right now is don’t panic,” said the 52-year-old head of multi-asset… Continue reading Volatility In Stocks
<Click on chart for larger image> Project Syndicate – Don’t Bet on a Stronger Dollar Economic pundits, almost without exception, are predicting a stronger dollar in 2015 – an expectation that is leading investors to place some very large bets. But that market strategy could turn out to be a very large mistake. The consensus… Continue reading The Dollar
The Financial Times – ECB’s bond plan is legal ‘in principle’ A top adviser to the European Court of Justice has said the European Central Bank’s crisis-fighting plan falls within the mandate of policy makers, removing a major legal hurdle to purchases of government bonds. Pedro Cruz Villalón, an ECJ advocate-general, issued an opinion on… Continue reading The ECB’s QE Plan Is Legal
Real Time Economics – Fed’s Kocherlakota Does Not Like What’s Brewing In The Bond Market Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota said Tuesday rock-bottom borrowing costs in the bond market are not a positive vote on the economic outlook. “The low long-term yields are actually a source of unease to me” because they… Continue reading Fed Official Says Low Bond Yields Are A Negative For The Economy
<Click on graphic for larger image> Business Insider – The State Of Global Monetary Policy In A Chart And A Map In the developed western economies, the US and the UK are slowly shifting from very loose policy to gradually tighter policy.The European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan look to ease further. Even… Continue reading Monetary Policy Throughout The World In One Chart
The Wall Street Journal – Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Make Comeback A hunt for yield and a gradually improving property market are bolstering a key engine of U.S. commercial property lending, helping borrowers to refinance but also reigniting fears the market is getting overheated. In all, lenders made $94 billion in loans bundled together and sold… Continue reading Commercial MBS Making A Comeback