<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Treasury Asks Dealers If It Should Sell Bonds Above 30 Years The U.S. Treasury Department is asking bond dealers whether it should consider issuing a security with a maturity exceeding 30 years. “Please comment on the demand for long-duration sovereign products,” the department said in a quarterly… Continue reading Will The Treasury Issue Bonds Longer Than 30 Years?
MarketWatch – A junk-bond warning: Investors exit as yields rise Investors pull most money from high-yield bond funds since last summer Weeks of falling junk bond prices have started to spook some bond investors, signalling that the record run for the riskiest part of corporate debt may be ending. Bond investors have been piling into… Continue reading Are Investors Leaving Junk Bonds?
Barron’s – GMO’S Jeremy Grantham Doesn’t See a Bubble Just Yet The famed investor says that the economy’s “early-cycle look” suggests a sell-off isn’t imminent. But not nearly as impressive as the unwillingness of academics to back off from closely held theories in the face of mere evidence. This affirmation of moral hazard – we… Continue reading Jeremy Grantham Speaks
The Financial Times – J Christopher Flowers warns of banking crisis One of the biggest private equity investors in the banking sector has warned that regulation has depressed profitability so much that lenders will struggle to attract sufficient investors to survive the next financial crisis. “All the stuff that has happened and all the rules… Continue reading An Impending Banking Crisis
Dealb%k (NYT Blog) – In a Subprime Bubble for Used Cars, Borrowers Pay Sky-High Rates Auto loans to people with tarnished credit have risen more than 130 percent in the five years since the immediate aftermath of the financial crisis, with roughly one in four new auto loans last year going to borrowers considered subprime… Continue reading Another Subprime Bubble?
USA Today – Marc Faber is sounding warning bell, again Swiss investor Marc Faber, editor and publisher of “The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report,” sees his role as matador to an overwrought bull market. Known as Dr. Doom for his perennially bearish outlook on the stock market, he is again predicting the Standard & Poor’s 500 is… Continue reading Stop The Presses…Marc Faber Is Bearish
MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Biotech Analyst to Janet Yellen: ‘Tell Me What I’m Missing’ Dr. Yellen – Thank you for sharing your thoughts recently on the biotech sector. Given your stature, I paid very close attention to your comments, as did most biotech observers. You stated that biotechnology valuations are “stretched, with ratios of prices… Continue reading Bio-Tech Stocks
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The Financial Times – John Authers: Rate increases will test the market mood Once the Fed raises rates in earnest it could be painful In CNBC’s discussion following this, Mr Santelli grew ever angrier. “Who are we helping here? They’re making it worse and they’re not addressing the problem. The Fed wasn’t created to be… Continue reading Today’s Installment Of “Everyone Knows The Bond Market Is Going To Crash”
The Wall Street Journal – Russia Faces Harsh Criticism Over Malaysia Airlines Crash U.S. Intelligence Said Plane Was Downed by Ground-to-Air Missile The U.S. agencies are divided over whether the missile was launched by the Russian military or by pro-Russia separatist rebels, who officials say lack the expertise on their own to bring down a… Continue reading Geopolitics
Scott Skyrm – The New (Revised) Fed Funds Benchmark Rate The FOMC minutes released last week indicate that the Fed may overhaul its monetary policy benchmark rate – the federal funds rate. There’s been a problem with trading volume in the fed funds market for some time. The general explanation is that since the introduction… Continue reading Is A New Funds Rate Coming?
The Wall Street Journal – Alan S. Blinder: An Unnecessary Fix for the Fed Legislation in pursuit of ‘transparency and accountability’ has little to do with either. The Taylor rule probably would give the Fed sensible instructions in normal times. But what about when the world is far from normal? The Fed claimed to be… Continue reading Does The Federal Reserve Need More Transparency?