Pimco – Bill Gross: The Second Coming 1. Policy rates (fed funds) and future expectations for them, help determine all asset prices. 2. Central banks are now shifting to a “subjective” as opposed to quantitative assessment. They must convince private markets of their credibility. 3. If they can, 2014 should see risk assets outperform cash… Continue reading Bill Gross Speaks
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – ‘Dash for trash’ slows as returns on junk bonds diminish For now, money is still flowing into mutual funds and ETFs investing in junk bonds, but at a slower pace. Investors bought $559m worth of high-yield funds in the week ended February 26, according to… Continue reading Junk Bonds
Brookings – David Wessel: The Fed and Financial Stability: Three Questions Not so long ago, the Federal Reserve focused on moving short-term interest rates up and down in its quest to keep prices stable and, sometimes, to keep unemployment low. It supervised banks, but mainly to make sure individual banks weren’t reckless. A lasting consequence… Continue reading The Fed And Financial Stability
The Wall Street Journal – Blowout Haul for Buyout Tycoons Booming Markets Let Big Names Bring Home $2.6 Billion Private equity’s top moguls took home more than $2.6 billion last year as booming markets allowed their firms to cash out of investments and notch blockbuster gains. Nine founders of four of the world’s largest private-equity… Continue reading Private Equity’s Big Payday
The Guardian (UK) – How five years of rock-bottom interest rates have changed Britain Five years ago on Wednesday, the Bank of England slashed interest rates to a record low of 0.5% – and it’s still there. For some it’s been goods news, for others bad Five years ago this week, on 5 March 2009,… Continue reading How Low Rates Changed Britain
Weather or a Slowdown? A transcript of the February 27, 2014 conference call. Audio Link of Conference Call Handout (also shown below) [hana-flv-player video=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/022714.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=174″] Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/022714.mp3|titles=Conference Call ]
<Click on chart for larger image> FT Alphaville – Do we even need a Fed balance-sheet reduction? It was referenced in the 2008 Fed transcripts, and now it’s becoming a reality. Either via IOER or fixed rate full allotment reverse repos (what we like to call Farps) the Fed can, if it wishes, steer interest… Continue reading Is It A Good Idea For The Fed To Take Over The Repo Market?
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics – Jon Hilsenrath: Sizing Up the Fed and the Ukraine How are they likely to think about unfolding events in the Crimea? Fed officials look at the economic and financial channels through which shocks travel. Europe’s fiscal problems strained credit… Continue reading Russia & Ukraine
ValueWalk – Freddie Mac Rakes In Historic Profits For U.S. Treasury After current payments, the government will have received $202.9 billion while they initially provided $187.5 billion in bailout funds When the fourth quarter dividend payment is made, Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp will have paid nearly $81.8 billion after receiving a… Continue reading Fannie & Freddie
The Wall Street Journal – Henry Kaufman: The Economy Can Take More Monetary Tightening Balance sheets are stronger, regulation is sounder, and the Fed isn’t likely to raise interest rates much anyway. The market’s focus on how the Federal Reserve will wind down or cease its current round of quantitative easing is unwarranted. While the… Continue reading A Call For More Tightening
BespokeInvest.com – “A Case Of The Mondays” Continues In 2014 In 2013, we noticed that Fridays were the most profitable day of the week, with an average return of 26 basis points (bps) for the S&P 500 on Fridays for the entire year. Mondays, meanwhile, were a dismal day for stocks, with returns averaging a… Continue reading Returns By Day Of The Week