CNN – Why bitcoin could fail As the virtual currency goes mainstream, many of the reasons why investors embrace bitcoin could go away. By contrast, the volatility of bitcoin makes everything a lot less certain. Neither the shopkeeper nor the customer would know how to correctly price the candy bar at any given time, since… Continue reading The Trouble With Bitcoin
The Financial Times – ECB poised for battle to ward off deflation Mario Draghi has signalled that he would be prepared for the European Central Bank to fight deflation in Europe by buying packages of bank loans to households and companies. Such a move would mark a sharp departure from traditional quantitative easing and provide… Continue reading Deflation Talk In Europe
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Comment Jim Bianco discussed the Federal Reserve with Charles Biderman of TrimTabs earlier this week. To view the discussion click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. Here is the transcript of this interview. Below is the second part, about China. The third part about the bond market will… Continue reading Talking With Biderman
Realtytrac – Short Sales and Foreclosure Sales Combined Accounted for 16 Percent of U.S. Residential Sales in 2013 All-cash purchases accounted for 42.1 percent of all U.S. residential sales in December, up from a revised 38.1 percent in November, and up from 18.0 percent in December 2012. States where all-cash sales accounted for more than… Continue reading Cash Purchases Of Homes Set Another New Record
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Record Grain Crop Stuck on Prairie as Railways Tap Oil Rising shipments of crude oil by train are tying up railway resources in Canada, leaving as much as 3 million tons of grain stuck on the Prairie after a record wheat and canola harvest. Grain shipments to… Continue reading Shipping Crude By Rail
Zacks.com – What’s Wrong with the Earnings Picture? There is actually nothing wrong with earnings picture; they are about as good or as bad any of the other recent quarters. Total earnings for the S&P 500 are on track to reach a new all-time quarterly record and even the earnings growth for the quarter in… Continue reading Earnings Season Update
The Economist – Grease-proof taper LAST summer mere talk from the Federal Reserve about “tapering” (ie, phasing out) its monetary stimulus through asset purchases was enough to fry emerging-market currencies. The exchange rates of the “fragile five”—Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Turkey—fell sharply. Now that tapering has, belatedly, commenced this month, which currencies look… Continue reading Big Mac Index
Yahoo Finance – Roubini doom scenario: It looks like 1914 again Perhaps 1914 isn’t a good comparison, but rather 1848 and 1968 could be: the former a year of revolutions across Europe; the latter a year of socialist, communist and student protests in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy and the USSR. Will 2014 be… Continue reading 2014 = 1914
Reuters – Emerging market sell-off spills over to Europe, U.S. A global flight from emerging market assets gathered pace on Friday, sending the Turkish lira to a record low and setting global shares on course for their worst week this year. European shares fell, especially in firms exposed to emerging markets, and a sell-off on… Continue reading Emerging Market Jitters
Reuters – Ukraine protesters seize building, put up more barricades Ukrainian protesters erected more street barricades and occupied a government ministry building on Friday, fuelling tension after the failure of crisis talks with President Viktor Yanukovich. In response to opposition calls, about 1,000 demonstrators moved away from Kiev’s Independence Square in the early hours of… Continue reading Meanwhile, In The Rest Of The World
The Financial Times – Carney signals scrapping of forward guidance target The BoE followed the Federal Reserve in announcing forward guidance last August in a bid to make monetary policy “more effective”. It said it would not consider a rate rise in the UK at least until unemployment fell to 7 per cent so long… Continue reading The BoE Ends Forward Guidance