The Wall Street Journal – Stock Investors Like the View in Europe Money Is Pouring Into Continental Shares as U.S. Funds See Outflows U.S. fund managers are rediscovering their passion for Europe—and not just as a vacation destination. Since the start of the year, American investors have ramped up their bets on European stocks, spurred… Continue reading Investing Abroad
The Financial Times – Wolfgang Munchau: Europe cannot afford to ignore its deflation problem For months we have been treating deflation as though we are tracking a storm on a weather map heading our way. But that may well be the wrong image. Deflation may already be here. Consider the evidence. Germany’s federal statistics office… Continue reading Deflation In Europe?
The Wall Street Journal – Justin Lahart: Economy Gives Fed the Cold Shoulder There has been a chill over the economy recently, and not all of it is about the weather. The recent run of economic data has been disappointing. The latest reports on jobs, retail sales and factory output reports have fallen short of… Continue reading The Weather
The Financial Times – George Magnus: Time for central banks to step back Central banks have been on the back foot recently. The Federal Reserve has been criticised for its tapering strategy. Forward guidance in the US and UK has become a little discredited. Higher policy rate expectations are played down but are no longer… Continue reading Central Bank Intervention
The Wall Street Journal – Small Investors Jump Back Into the Trading Game Traders Ramp Up Activity at Discount Brokerages After a 15-year period of volatility marked by the dot-com crash and the 2008 financial crisis, individuals are swelling trading volume at firms such as E*Trade Financial Corp. and TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. A —and… Continue reading Is The Public Returning To The Market?
The Wall Street Journal – Bakken Shale Oil Carries High Combustion Risk Analysis of Crude From North Dakota Raises Further Questions About Rail Transportation Crude oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale formation contains several times the combustible gases as oil from elsewhere, a Wall Street Journal analysis found, raising new questions about the safety of… Continue reading Bakken Oil
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Fed Officials Kept Humor in 2008 With Jokes on Spouses, Food How is a recession like a bad joke? Ben Bernanke couldn’t stop either in 2008. Even in the grimmest of times, Federal Reserve officials maintained a sense of humor, regaling their colleagues with jokes about their… Continue reading Laughter At The Fed
The Financial Times – If HFT is here to stay it needs to be regulated What is beyond doubt is the fact that HFT has now replaced the role of traditional market maker across a host of financial assets, most notably equities. The machines really have taken over from people here – a situation that… Continue reading High Frequency Trading
Bloomberg.com – Yellen Seeking New Low-Rate Guidance Can Turn to Fed Forecasts As Janet Yellen seeks to forge a consensus on a new strategy for communicating the Federal Reserve’s intention to keep rates low, she can reach for a six-year-old old tool: the Fed’s quarterly forecasts. Policy makers plan to abandon their promise to hold… Continue reading Forward Guidance
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Bloomberg.com – Housing in U.S. Cools as Weather Adds to Burdens Housing starts in the U.S. slumped in January by the most in almost three years as unusually harsh winter weather added to the industry’s burdens. Builders began work on 880,000 homes at an annualized rate last month, matching the lowest projection in a Bloomberg… Continue reading Housing & Weather
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