The Financial Times – Andrew Smithers: Growth and returns: the lucky and the unlucky Capital should flow to the places where the best returns are expected. If this were to work in practice as well as in theory, we would find that industries and countries which are expected to grow rapidly should give no better… Continue reading A Long-Term Look At GDP vs. Equity Returns
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Josh Zumbrun: Why Weather Could Determine Who Wins a Race To Measure Inflation Beginning in 2008, a pair of economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology began tracking prices across the Internet to see if they could beat the Labor Department at its own game. Their task? Estimate the… Continue reading Measuring CPI Is A Tough Game
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> Business Insider – IMF: Russia Is Already In Recession The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that Russia is already in recession and slashed its growth forecast for 2014 citing the effect of the Ukraine crisis on investment. “If we define recession as… Continue reading Russia
The Financial Times – China poised to pass US as world’s leading economic power this year The US is on the brink of losing its status as the world’s largest economy, and is likely to slip behind China this year, sooner than widely anticipated, according to the world’s leading statistical agencies. The US has been… Continue reading China Could Soon Be The World’s Largest Economy By One Invented Measure
Bloomberg.com – Matt Levine: Fannie and Freddie Would Only Lose $190 Billion in Another Crisis Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are really really big. This can mess with your intuitions. So is this a big number or a small number? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could require another $190 billion in government support under a… Continue reading Measuring The GSEs On A ‘Too Big To Fail’ Basis
CNBC – Marc Faber: We haven’t had the big correction…yet Technology stocks may have suffered a sell-off in the last few weeks, but the U.S. market as a whole is still set for a dramatic correction this year, Marc Faber, the market watcher known as “Dr. Doom” told CNBC Wednesday. The editor and publisher of… Continue reading Doom & Gloom
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Bitcoin’s ‘Big Step Forward’ To Jesse Powell, the CEO of Payward, which operates the Kraken exchange, Bloomberg’s decision to report bitcoin prices on its terminals, was “a big step forward for the industry” that shows “at least a recognition that there is some interest out there.” Bitcoin price quotes provided by… Continue reading You Can Now Track Bitcoin On Your Bloomberg
Washington Wire (WSJ Blog) – Big Bucks to Buy Lunch With Bernanke or Geithner Who’s the more expensive lunch date: Gene Sperling, Ben Bernanke or Timothy Geithner? Meals with the three are up for bid as part of an online auction to benefit the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. So far… Continue reading Dining With The Stars
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: S&P 500 and QE Economists’ Forecasts, This Time Is Different (We Promise) Market Capitalization As Percentage Of GDP A Look At Earnings A Look At Earnings – 2 Sputtering In Asia (China) Sputtering In Asia (China) – 2 Japan Real GDP Forecasted Japanese Economic Growth Interest… Continue reading Charts of the Week
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> USA Today – Case-Shiller: February home prices gains slow Home prices continued rising more slowly in many cities in February than a year ago, according to a closely-followed gauge of the housing market. The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller 20-city index found only five… Continue reading Home Prices Rise As Homeownership Falls To 19-Year Lows
The Wall Street Journal – Asia’s Export Engine Sputters Economic Expansion Threatened in Four Major Countries Not this time. Exports jumped in 2010 in the wake of the global financial crisis. But they have slumped since and now are barely in positive territory, even as the U.S. economy has stirred back to life. This sluggishness… Continue reading Sputtering In Asia (China)