<Click on chart for larger image> MarketWatch – What a bond bear market really looks like Think you know how a bond bear market looks and feels? I doubt it. Bonds have been in a major bull market for nearly 33 years — ever since the 30-year Treasury yield hit its all-time a high of… Continue reading The History Of Bond Bear Markets
The Financial Times – Mohamed El-Erian: The instability in central bank divergence A careful reading of recent policy statements in advanced economies points to an intriguing possibility: after being forced into quite a similar stance, individual central banks will try to implement more differentiated monetary policy approaches. The driver is greater evidence of multispeed economic… Continue reading Mohammed El-Erian Discusses Central Banks
Barron’s – RANDALL W. FORSYTH: If We Knew Then What We Know Now What’s omitted from the narrative of 2008 is the spike in commodity and especially crude-oil prices that took place amidst the credit crisis. That part of the story has been overshadowed by the near-failure of Bear Stearns, before being taken over by… Continue reading The 2008 Crisis
Dealbook (NYT blog) – Defending Bitcoin, Andreessen Says Mt. Gox Is ‘Like MF Global’ The apparent collapse on Monday of Mt. Gox, the most prominent exchange for Bitcoin, spooked many holders of the virtual currency, as they tried to determine whether the problems pointed to larger flaws in the Bitcoin system. But as Mt. Gox… Continue reading Marc Andreessen Defends Bitcoin
Bloomberg.com – Matthew C Klein: Everybody Should Get Off Bill Gross’s Back For years, Bill Gross has been that manager. His flagship Total Return Fund has beaten the Barclays U.S. Aggregate bond index almost every year since inception. (Recent performance has been less exemplary than past years, but still good.) There simply isn’t an excuse… Continue reading More On Pimco
The Wall Street Journal – What Will Bernanke Title His Book? Twitter Weighs In Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke confirmed he is writing a memoir about his time at the central bank. But there’s no word yet on the title. So, leave it to the twittersphere to offer some suggestions. #BernankeBookTitles List of ideas… Continue reading Twitter Users Have Some Suggestions For Bernanke’s Book Title
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<Click on chart for larger image> Forbes – Buffett Wary If Ratio Market Value Of Stocks Greater Than 100% Of GDP The nation’s pre-eminent investor, Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett has often said that probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment is the ratio of the total market capitalization to… Continue reading Is Market Cap To GDP The Best Stock Market Valuation Measure?
CNBC – It’s not the weather, stupid, it’s the economy! January’s pullback led to February’s profit as traders stepped in to buy the dips. Further deterioration in the economic data might make the Federal Reserve rethink its decision to reduce its monthly bond-buying program—quantitative easing—in $10 billion-per-meeting increments, a possibility for which traders seem to… Continue reading The Weather & The Economy
The Wall Street Journal – What Did Obama Tell Geithner about S&P? The former Treasury secretary’s famous call came five minutes after a meeting in the Oval Office. Last month we wrote about the threatening phone call from then-Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner to the head of the parent company of Standard & Poor’s… Continue reading Pressuring The Rating Agencies
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – EU Forecasts Weak Growth, Warns About Debt Bloc’s Economists Say Deflation Could Harm Recovery European Union economists on Tuesday forecast tepid growth for most of the region through 2015, while warning that lingering debt burdens and the specter of deflation could sabotage the recovery.… Continue reading Lagging Official Forecasts