The Wall Street Journal – Corporate Bonds: Not So Brave in the New World The bond-market sands are starting to shift. That is particularly true in the U.S., where investment-grade corporate bonds, one of the long-standing beneficiaries of the financial crisis, have started to come under pressure. The gap between U.S. corporate bond yields and… Continue reading Corporate Bonds
The Wall Street Journal – China Central Bank Cut in Rates May Be Short on Impact China’s move to slash lending rates to help slowing growth may lack punch, as Chinese banks likely will remain reluctant to lower loan rates for fears of hurting their profits. The People’s Bank of China on Friday cut benchmark… Continue reading More On China’s Rate Cut
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – A Sign of Health for Stocks: Cautious 2015 Forecasts Investment strategists are beginning to issue forecasts for 2015, and the numbers are puny. Many people are predicting stock-index gains of 5% or less. If they are right, it means an unspectacular year for stock investors. This year, by comparison, the S&P… Continue reading Dwindling Equity Optimism
The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: What Big Economies Got Right, or Wrong, After Crisis The divergent policy paths taken by the world’s advanced economies provide lessons for global leaders navigating difficult post-crisis environments. The U.S. and U.K. appear to have gotten something right, while the eurozone and Japan have fumbled. Unemployment rates after… Continue reading A Look At How Different Countries Responded To Crisis
Bloomberg.com – OPEC’s Easy Days Setting Oil Production Are Over, Veteran Says; You Need Russia, Norway, Mexico The days when OPEC members could all but guarantee consensus when deciding production levels for oil are long gone, according to a veteran of almost two decades of the group’s meetings. The global glut of crude, which has… Continue reading OPEC Is Divided
The Financial Times – Gavyn Davies: Global policy mix turns more growth friendly Dissatisfaction abounds in policy circles and among respected economic commentators (like Martin Wolf and Paul Krugman) about the weak and patchy recovery in global GDP which has been underway since 2009. Rightly so. At minimum, Japan and the euro area seem to… Continue reading Global Growth Prospects
The Financial Times – Liquidity puzzle lurks within bond funds’ extraordinary rise The growth of bond fund managers over the past six years has been nothing short of extraordinary, with net assets of the world’s bond investment funds estimated to stand at $7.3tn, up almost 74 per cent since the depths of the financial crisis… Continue reading Market Liquidity
The Wall Street Journal – China Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates China cut lending rates for the first time in more than two years, in an acknowledgment that its piecemeal efforts to bolster its flagging growth have failed. The surprise move by the People’s Bank of China on Friday comes amid wide expectations that China… Continue reading China Cuts Rates For First Time Since July 2012
Bloomberg.com – Oil at $75 Means Patches of Texas Shale Turn Unprofitable With crude at $75 a barrel, the price Goldman Sachs Group Inc. says will be the average in the first three months of next year, 19 U.S. shale regions are no longer profitable, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Those… Continue reading Shale Oil Profitability
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – With Cheap Fuel, America’s Tank Is Half Full Don’t spend it all in one place. The financial windfall consumers will reap from the sharp drop in energy prices certainly seems substantial. Various estimates put the savings on gasoline alone at around $65 billion a… Continue reading Falling Gas Prices
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Fed’s Bullard: Fed Has Boxed Itself In When It Comes to June Rate Hike Broad expectations the Federal Reserve will start raising short-term interest rates next summer are being driven not so much by economic considerations as they are by quirks in how the U.S. central bank conducts its… Continue reading Rate Hike Expectations Based On FOMC Calendar