Politico – Ben White: The Janet Yellen era begins For Janet Yellen, getting confirmed was the easy part. Shortly after she takes over as chairwoman of the Federal Reserve on Monday, Yellen will begin intense preparations for a grilling by ornery members of Congress. Two dozen Fed staffers will crowd into a chamber off the… Continue reading Day 1 Of The Yellen Era
The Financial Times – William Rhodes: Central banks must co-ordinate policy After moving in parallel steps, they are now starting to diverge Not since 2008 has there been a greater need for policy co-ordination among major central banks to harmonise monetary and bank regulatory policies. Back then, the financial crisis forced swift co-ordinated responses by… Continue reading Central Bank Policy Across The Globe
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – The January Barometer, by the Numbers In Friday’s Morning MoneyBeat, we touched on the January barometer and what, if any, predictive value it has on stocks for the remainder of a year. We found that since 1950, the market has been more than capable of climbing out of a first-month hole.… Continue reading A Bad Month
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Investors turn wary on US earnings growth There is one certainty in the stock market: companies usually beat their lowballed earnings forecasts. At least, that is what equity bulls say. Others have turned wary. Robust earnings growth and faith that it can be sustained –… Continue reading Earnings Expectations
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Europe will feel the pain of emerging markets So much for “crisis over”. After the US subprime meltdown and the explosion of eurozone sovereign debt yields, we are now confronting a classic emerging market currency crisis with possible repercussions in other parts of the global… Continue reading Emerging Markets
Indexology Blog (S&P blog) – Dispersion and Correlation: Which is “Better?” We recently introduced the concept of dispersion, which measures the average difference between the return of an index and the return of each of the index’s components. In times of high dispersion, the gap between the best performers and the worst performers is relatively… Continue reading Dispersion vs. Correlation
Zero Hedge – China’s Epic Skyscraper Construction Spree: A Harbinger Of The Crash? If the Barclays Skyscraper Index, which posits bursts of skyscraper construction are a harbinger of great economic collapse and market crashes, is accurate, then the world is in for a, well, world of pain. And nowhere more so than in China. While… Continue reading The Skyscraper Index
A Bernanke trading card was handed out at his going-away reception (ht @Claudia_Sahm)
The Economist – Emerging markets: Don’t panic There is no reason for a broad emerging-market crisis. But nervous investors could yet cause one A CENTRAL bank doubles interest rates after an emergency meeting at midnight. A country is forced into a big devaluation as foreign-exchange reserves dwindle. Recent events in Turkey and Argentina have eerie… Continue reading Emerging Market Problems
Sys-Con Media – Zacks Earnings Trends Highlights: Bank of America, Verizon and Travelers Strong Q4 Earnings, but 2014 Estimates Coming Down With respect to the Scorecard for 2013 Q4, we have seen results from 219 S&P 500 members accounting for 58% of the index’s total market capitalization. Total earnings for these 219 companies are up… Continue reading Earnings Season At The Halfway Point
Zero Hedge – Equity Funds Have Largest Weekly Outflow In Over Two Years From BofA “… equity, high yield and EM bond funds all reported large outflows last week after the sharp selloff in risk assets driven by weakness in EM. At the same time munis – the asset class that benefits most from the… Continue reading Outflows
BusinessWeek – The Incredible Shrinking Credit-Default Swap Market Five years after almost blowing up the global economy and eight years after making fortunes for Wall Street traders, the credit-default swap market is quietly fading. Rules introduced in the wake of the financial crisis by U.S. and European regulators have led investment banks to withdraw from… Continue reading The Shrinking Default Swap Market