The Wall Street Journal – The Changing Face of Leverage Arguably, however, central banks have played a role akin to providing leverage through policies such as quantitative easing. They have supplied added juice to returns. As a result, since the end of 2008, Barclays U.S. investment-grade corporate bond index has returned 8.8% annualized, U.S. high-yield… Continue reading Leverage
The Wall Street Journal – Kevin Warsh And Stanley Druckenmiller: The Asset-Rich, Income-Poor Economy The aggregate wealth of U.S. households, including stocks and real-estate holdings, just hit a new high of $81.8 trillion. That’s more than $26 trillion in wealth added since 2009. No wonder most on Wall Street applaud the Fed’s unrelenting balance-sheet recovery… Continue reading Creating Wealth Without Helping The Economy
Bloomberg – Pimco’s Gross Wagering on Low Volatility in ‘New Neutral’ Bill Gross said Pacific Investment Management Co., manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, has been betting that volatility across asset classes will remain very low, as gauges of price swings fall to their lowest levels on record. “We sell insurance, basically, against price… Continue reading Low Volatility
The Wall Street Journal – BOJ Becomes Top Holder of Japan Government Bonds The Bank of Japan has become the biggest holder of the country’s sovereign debt for the first time, showing how the central bank’s aggressive monetary easing has transformed the debt market. The BOJ held ¥201 trillion ($1.97 trillion) in Japanese government bonds… Continue reading The BoJ Owns Over 20% Of Its Bond Market
The Economist – A narrow path Central banks around the world are struggling to promote growth without fomenting worrisome risk-taking UNTIL the global financial crisis, central banks treated bubbles with benign neglect: they were hard to detect and harder to deflate, so best left alone; the mess could be mopped up after they burst. No… Continue reading Creating Growth Without Creating Bubbles
TakePart – How to Lose $1 Billion: Yeshiva University Blows Its Future on Loser Hedge Funds High-risk investments and conflicts of interest abounded at Manhattan’s prestigious university, leading to a $1.3 billion reversal of fortune. Students are likely to bear the brunt of the losses. It was a time for emergency prayer. Rabbis at Yeshiva… Continue reading Schools Losing Money On Hedge Funds
The Wall Street Journal – Bailout Lets a Few Lucky Banks Off the Hook Maryland Financial Bank, one of six banks included in the government’s auction this week of stakes it received as part of its crisis-era bailout program, enjoys an unusual luxury: It doesn’t have to make good on the money it still owes… Continue reading Some Banks Refusing To Repay TARP Money
The Motley Fool – Dangerous Financial Words “Risk tolerance” “Risk” “Financial plan” “Uncertainty” “Objective analysis”
h/t Jared Bernstein’s blog. “ this is what happens when you stare at the dot chart too long.”
Comment Today at 9 AM CT (10:00 AM ET, 7:00 AM PT, and 15:00 BST), Bianco Research, in conjunction with Arbor Research & Trading, will be hosting a webcast/teleconference moderated by Jim Bianco. Join us today as we discuss Wednesday’s FOMC meeting, the latest on interest rates and the economy. We will also cover the… Continue reading The Federal Reserve, Interest Rates and the Economy
[pageview class=”PDFViewer” url=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/plugins/PDFViewer/plugin.php?id=193″] The Wall Street Journal – Fed Ups Projections for Short-Term Interest Rates Federal Reserve Officials Inched Up Projections for Interest Rates in Next 2 Years but Lowered Longer Outlook On average, Fed officials projected the benchmark federal funds rate would hit 1.2% by the end of 2015 and 2.5% by the end… Continue reading The Fed’s Interest Rate Projections
The Wall Street Journal – Downgrading Growth Again The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee on Wednesday stuck to its path of reducing its bond purchases by $10 billion a month, which was no surprise. The news, by now so routine that perhaps it also shouldn’t surprise, is that the Fed once again reduced its forecast… Continue reading The Fed Slashes GDP Projections Again