Financial Sense – Jim Bianco on Gold, Oil, and Why the Market Doesn’t Care About Geopolitical Events Between Ukraine and ISIS, 2014 has been a year marked by geopolitical tension. Yet, contrary to intuition, market volatility has continued to trend downward along with the price of gold and oil, while stocks continue to hit new… Continue reading Geopolitical Risk
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Fed’s Fisher: Would Like to See Rate Move Early Next Spring Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said Friday he’d like to the see the U.S. central bank begin to raise rates early next year , in an interview on Fox Business Network. When it comes to… Continue reading Fed Officials Offer Their Thoughts On Rate Hikes & Shedding Assets
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Dangers Aside, Railways Reshape Crude Market Today, 1.6 million barrels of oil a day are riding the rails, close to 20% of the total pumped in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration, chugging across plains and over bridges, rumbling through cities and… Continue reading Transporting Crude By Rail
<Click on chart for larger image> Business Insider – Warren Buffett’s ‘Single Best Indicator’ Of Stock Market Value Hasn’t Been This High Since The Dotcom Bubble Market Cap to GDP is a long-term valuation indicator that has become popular in recent years, thanks to Warren Buffett. Back in 2001 he remarked in a Fortune Magazine… Continue reading Market Cap To GDP
The Financial Times – The short-sighted US buyback boom At a time of soaring profitability, US companies have piled up huge amounts of cash, much of it parked offshore. Yet investing it in long-term growth is the last thing on their mind. According to Barclays, US companies have lavished more than $500bn in the past… Continue reading Stock Buybacks
The New York Times – You Can’t Feed a Family With G.D.P. Around 1999, growth in the United States economy stopped translating to growth in middle-class incomes. In the last 15 years, median income has been more or less flat while there was far sharper growth in, for example, per capita gross domestic product. There… Continue reading The Disconnect Between GDP & Household Income
<Click on chart for larger image> FT Alphaville (FT Blog) – It wasn’t QE that caused a collateral scarcity this summer The Liberty Street Economics blog of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York provided a good analysis this week of the summer’s UST settlement fails spike. For those unfamiliar, settlement fails in US Treasury… Continue reading Treasury Fails
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Student Debt Could Reduce Home Sales 8% This Year, Report Says Higher levels of student debt will reduce U.S. home sales by around 8% this year, according to a report released Friday by John Burns Real Estate Consulting, an advisory firm. The paper examines the impact of student debt… Continue reading Student Loans Take Bite Out Of Housing Market
The Wall Street Journal – Should Mortgage Lending Standards Ease? Easy lending standards have helped set postrecession records for new-car sales. New-home building is barely rising, due in part to much tighter standards among mortgage lenders. This disparity underscores the divergent paths the two sectors have taken in the years since the financial crisis. So… Continue reading Lending Standards
None Today
[hana-flv-player video=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/091814.flv” width=”600″ height=”495″ description=”” player=”3″ autoload=”false” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”true” splashimage=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/themes/twentyten/images/splash.jpg” /] Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/091814.mp3|titles=Conference Call ] Comment Yesterday we hosted an internal call. Below are notes on what was discussed. The Fed: Don’t overthink the Fed. When they want to signal they are ready to raise rates, they will drop one or both of the… Continue reading Talking The Fed, Markets And The Economy
The Financial Times – Alibaba prices shares in IPO at $68 Alibaba, the ecommerce company that helped transform both retailing and finance in China, has priced its initial public offering at $68 per share, the top end of a range it agreed days ago. The pricing means the ecommerce company started 15 years ago by… Continue reading Alibaba IPO