The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: Fed Aims to Signal Shift on Low Rates Central Bank Could Drop ‘Considerable Time’ Phrasing in Policy Statement Federal Reserve officials are seriously considering an important shift in tone at their policy meeting next week: dropping an assurance that short-term interest rates will stay near zero for a… Continue reading The Fed Asks For Our “Considerable” Opinion
Comment What level of crude oil prices affect production? There are two ways to answer this question: 1) You can read expensive energy consultant reports. They will always give you the same answer, a rolling target that is perpetually $5 to $15 dollars below the current level. For instance, back in mid-October Goldman said the… Continue reading Is Crude Oil Low Enough To Stop Production?
Comment Jim Bianco was on Bloomberg TV yesterday discussing the markets. To view the interview, click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews, click here.
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – China’s Stocks Sink Most Since 2009 as Turnover Jumps to Record Chinese stocks tumbled the most since 2009 amid volatile trading that spurred the benchmark index’s biggest swings in five years and sent turnover to a record. The Shanghai Composite Index slid 5.4 percent to 2,856.27 at… Continue reading Chinese Stocks
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Strong Dollar Burns U.S. Investors in Asia and Emerging Markets U.S. Dollar Has Been Hitting Highs Against Global Currencies Investors using dollars to snap up stocks in Asia and emerging markets elsewhere are finding their returns dented by the surging greenback. Stock rallies in… Continue reading The Surging Dollar Hurts Asia
The New York Post – John Crudele: Even the Labor Department can’t explain the latest job report As it turns out, last month’s job growth was much more ordinary than the headline figure would have you believe — and it all lies with the seasonal adjustments Uncle Sam sprinkles onto all its data. Government computer… Continue reading Diving Deeper Into Seasonality In The Latest Payroll Number
The Financial Times – ECB blamed for covered bond shortage Covered bond supply has reached its lowest level in nearly two decades as the European Central Bank has been accused of crowding out investors from the market by pushing up prices and depressing yields. European covered bond volumes total $166.2bn for the year to date,… Continue reading The ECB Distorts Markets
The Wall Street Journal – It Was a Dark and Stormy Market… What Investors Can Learn From What Fund Managers Read or Carl Kaufman, a portfolio manager of the $6.8 billion Osterweis Strategic Income Fund , reading starts at 5:30 a.m. He gets up, reads three newspapers and then begins constantly sifting through hundreds of… Continue reading What The Pros Read
CNBC – Americans on verge of buying 1M expensive cars The growth in sales of higher priced models is stunning when compared with the auto industry overall. From January through November 931,064 vehicles were sold in the U.S. with average price above $50,000, a whopping 30.8 percent increase compared to the same period last year,… Continue reading It’s Good To Be Among The 1%
The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Payrolls in November Grew 321,000; Jobless Rate 5.8% Economy on Track to Record Strongest Year of Job Creation in 15 Years Most Fed policy makers expect their first increase will come next year as the economy gains strength. Still, many officials believe they can be patient, because inflation remains… Continue reading Does The Payroll Report Have A Measurement Issue?
The Wall Street Journal – Falling Oil Prices Spur New Bets on Global Economic Growth Policy Makers Shrug Off Concerns That Tumbling Oil Costs Are Harbinger of Slowdown Many of the world’s top policy makers are rewriting their economic forecasts for the U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere, betting plummeting oil prices will lead to an… Continue reading Falling Crude Prices