The Wall Street Journal – Why This Bull Market Feels Familiar It Has Lots in Common With the ’90s Rally, but With Stronger Headwinds Stock investors should brush up on their Macarena skills and then sit down for a few episodes of “Seinfeld.” These days, it’s feeling a lot like the 1990s, some say. For… Continue reading Comparing Today’s Stock Market To The 1990’s Market
The Wall Street Journal – The Bond Market’s Other Inflation Challenge Global disinflation is a hot topic for bond investors. In the day-to-day life of markets, though, one form of inflation is proving sticky: in the order books for new issues…Regulators are paying much closer attention to bond-market plumbing. But the issue isn’t as simple… Continue reading A Closer Look At The Increase In Debt Issuance
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Floating a Few Cents to Investors In January, the U.S. Treasury began issuing floating-rate notes or FRNs, the first major innovation in U.S. debt since inflation-protected securities were introduced in 1997. This new investment isn’t a bonanza, but it should enable some investors to earn a little more on their cash.… Continue reading Floating Rate Notes
The Wall Street Journal – China’s Growth Struggles China’s first quarter growth of 7.4% beat expectations last week, but it was a six-quarter low and below Beijing’s 2014 target of 7.5%. Some analysts worry the country is vulnerable to a property market collapse and explosion of bad bank loans. So is the main engine of… Continue reading China’s Hard Landing
House of Debt (Blog) – Are We Headed for a Credit Market Crash? In a series of speeches, Federal Reserve Governor Jeremy Stein emphasized the importance of financial stability concerns in monetary policy-making. But how does one measure whether threats to financial stability are lurking? Put differently, can we know that there is a credit… Continue reading The Predictive Ability Of HY vs. IG Debt
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Hedge Funds Cut Gold Bets in Longest Slide of 2014 Hedge funds lowered bullish bets on gold for a fourth week, the longest streak this year. The net-long position contracted to the lowest since mid-February as speculators sold bullion on signs of accelerating U.S. economic growth. The… Continue reading Hedge Funds Sell Gold
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Comment Yesterday Jim Bianco was on Bloomberg Asia TV discussing the Federal Reserve, earnings and China. To view the interview, click on the image below. To view any of our recent interviews click here.
USA Today – IPO market is casualty of stock market pullback The IPO market, which is coming off its best year since 2000, is showing unmistakable signs of returning to earth — the latest casualty of last week’s stock market plunge, which prompted investors to dial back risk-taking. That slowdown may take some of the… Continue reading About The Recent Wave of IPOs
Bloomberg View – Barry Ritholtz: The Hedge-Fund Manager Dilemma I have been fascinated with hedge funds for quite some time. I began studying them in the last decade. It has been an intriguing field of investigation for a number of reasons: No. 1. Alpha Generators: In the early days of hedge funds, they created a… Continue reading Hedge Funds’ Terrible Performance
The Economist – FICC and thin The engine of investment banking is spluttering IN AN open-plan office big enough to house a football field, scores of traders peer into the unearthly glow of trading terminals stacked two or three high and dozens in a row, buying and selling bonds and currencies. Flags poke out above… Continue reading How Investment Banks Make Money
The Economist – Barbarians at middle age The firms that pioneered private equity are becoming duller There are other reasons why private equity’s titans have become more staid. The nine founders of the four big firms, who between them earned $2.5 billion last year, are nearing retirement age. Their successors are administrators rather than daredevils.… Continue reading Private Equity Firms