The New York Post – John Crudele: Labor Dept.’s P.E.E. distorts jobs numbers First, let’s define the technical term P.E.E. It is an acronym I made up a few days ago for Performance Enhancing Estimates. You’ve heard about the effects of Performance Enhancing Drugs in sports. Well, P.E.E.s aren’t illegal in statistics, and they make economic… Continue reading How To Count Jobs
Reuters – Pimco’s ‘Bond King’ suffers 13th month of outflows at Total Return Fund Bill Gross’ Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund, posted $4.3 billion in net outflows in May, marking its 13th straight month of investor withdrawals despite achieving its best performance in four months, Morningstar data showed on Monday. The… Continue reading Another Tough Month For Pimco
The Wall Street Journal – Hedge-Fund World’s One-Man Wealth Machine David Abrams Built His Fortune Effectively Going It Alone In the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, one man is building a moneymaking machine that rivals some of the hedge-fund industry’s biggest names. Calls to his office go unreturned even from those eager to fork over… Continue reading How To Make A Billion Dollars By Yourself
Market Watch – Banks’ fixed-income revenue in permanent decline Revenue from the once lucrative fixed-income trading business has fallen sharply in recent years and analysts say it will never recover to its peak levels. In the first quarter of 2014, major banks generated revenue from fixed income, currencies and commodities, known by the acronym FICC,… Continue reading The End of Fixed-Income Trading?
The Latest On The Bond Market’s Refusal To Acquiesce To The Consensus And The Economy A transcript of the May 29, 2014 conference call. Audio Link of Conference Call Handout (also shown below) [hana-flv-player video=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/052914.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” /] <Click above to view webcast> [pageview class=”PDFViewer” url=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/plugins/PDFViewer/plugin.php?id=192″] Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/052914.mp3|titles=Conference… Continue reading The Latest On The Bond Market’s Refusal To Acquiesce To The Consensus And The Economy
The Financial Times – Supply and demand drive down US bond yields Treasury issuance has dropped even as investors flock to bond funds There are plenty of fixed income investors struggling to reconcile the bullish behaviour of Treasuries with record US equity prices, improving second-quarter economic data and fewer central bank bond purchases. The general… Continue reading Still Searching For A Reason Yields Are Falling
<Click on chart for larger image> Definition of Corporate Profits MarketWatch – Why corporate profits sank in first quarter and what it means After-tax corporate profits sank 13.7% in the first quarter to mark the second biggest decline in the past 50 years, using a number that adjusts for depreciation and the changing value of… Continue reading Corporate Profits Fall
<Click on chart for larger image> The Telegraph – China explores bond buying in first hint of QE China’s central bank is exploring direct purchases of bonds and other assets to support key sectors of the economy in case the slowdown deepens, according to a leading Chinese business publication. A front-page article in the China… Continue reading QE Coming To China?
Bloomberg.com – Mohamed El-Erian: Adam Smith vs. Keynes and Minsky According to Smith, the collective good is best served by the atomized behavior of rational individuals driven by self-interest. In maximizing their own needs, individuals also maximize the collective objective – a process that has self-reinforcing dynamics. This seems to be playing out in markets… Continue reading El-Erian Chimes In On Keynes vs. Smith Debate
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – No Free Lunch in Dividend Funds There’s no such thing as a free lunch, but there is an inexhaustible supply of investors who will trip all over themselves in pursuit of it. Consider portfolios of dividend-paying U.S. stocks, which sparkled in 2010 and 2011. Mutual funds of that type returned 18.1%… Continue reading Dividend Paying Stocks
Real Time Economics – Peterson’s Posen Argues in Favor of a Supercharged Fed As the Federal Reserve begins winding down its aggressive easy-money policies, at least one former central banker says it should consider acting more boldly to spur stronger economic growth. Adam Posen, a former rate-setter at the Bank of England, argues the Fed… Continue reading Arguing For More Easy Money