The Wall Street Journal – Judy Shelton: The Markets Love Yellen—for Now The new head of the Federal Reserve says monetary policy won’t change, unless it does. Janet Yellen proved on Tuesday that she has mastered the art of Fed-speak. Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee for the first time as the chairwoman of… Continue reading Yellen
Bloomberg – Matt Levine: Some Lines Say Maybe the Stock Market Will Go Down A portion of the financial internet spent a portion of yesterday discussing a pretty silly chart showing that the performance of the Dow from 2012 through now has been exactly like the performance of the Dow from 1928 through September 1929,… Continue reading The 1929 Overlay Will Not Go Away
The Times (UK) – Drugs and prostitutes add £10bn to national wealth The activities of prostitutes and drug dealers are about to give Britain a £10 billion economic boost. The enforcement of EU rules requiring the black market to be taken into account when allocating the Brussels budget could also offer a far more significant… Continue reading Boosting GDP By Including Illegal Activities
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – ECB Considers Negative Deposit Rate The European Central Bank is “seriously” considering taking its rate on overnight bank deposits into negative territory, a top member of its executive board said Wednesday, adding to mounting speculation that the central bank will act at its next policy meeting to keep the… Continue reading The ECB Considers Going Negative
<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Flood of Cash Eases China Money-Market Stress Stress in China’s money markets is easing because money is flooding back into the banking system following the Lunar New Year holiday and as the central bank refrains from sucking out excess cash. The benchmark cost of short-term… Continue reading Funding Costs In China
Hitler Discusses The Stock Market
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Mutual Fund Flows Is ISM Diverging From The Economy? A Note On Volume and Conviction Discussing The Jobs Report Emerging Markets Uncertainty In Europe Employment In Pictures Employment In Pictures Employment In Pictures An Updated Look At Gas Prices Central Bank Balance Sheets The Deficit An… Continue reading Charts of the Week
Comment Yesterday Jim Bianco was on Reuters TV discussing Yellen’s testimony. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. Yellen’s testimony stressed how close she is to Bernanke on monetary policy. We saw almost no difference between them. If there is one difference, she seems… Continue reading Janet Speaks, Stumbles As A Regulator
Bloomberg.com – Can Mario Draghi Beat Deflation? The European Central Bank may soon have to roll out the heavy artillery, in the form of an asset purchase program similar to those in the U.S., U.K. and Japan, to fight the specter of deflation. But in a currency union with 18 different sovereign bonds, the tough… Continue reading Europe
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Is U.S. Housing Unaffordable? It Depends on How You Chart It Rising home prices and interest rates made housing less affordable last year than at any time in the last five years, according to data released Tuesday by the National Association of Realtors. So is it time to sound… Continue reading Housing Affordability
The Financial Times – Chances are high of mass exodus from EM The risks posed by emerging markets relate less to their own vulnerabilities than to deficiencies in the global financial architecture. Financial intermediation mismatches, volatility mispricing and co-ordination failure threaten a train wreck in emerging markets and an atypical spillover to the weakest developed… Continue reading Emerging Markets
Bloomberg.com – The Secret to Shortening Long-Term Unemployment Shortly after the financial crisis, two economists, Alan Krueger of Princeton University and Andreas Mueller of the University of Stockholm, commissioned a survey of recently unemployed people in New Jersey. They found what other economists have found before them: Most unemployed people quickly slack off on their… Continue reading Debating Unemployment Benefits