Zero Hedge – Marc Faber Warns “The Bubble Could Burst Any Day”; Prefers Physical Gold To Bitcoin “The Fed’s policies have actually led to a lot of problems around the world,” Marc Faber begins his discussion with Bloomberg TV’s Trish Regan, especially “people in the lower income groups [who] spend say 30% of their income… Continue reading Mark Faber Discusses The Fed
Bloomberg.com – Fed Weighs Further Restrictions on Banks’ Commodities Units The Federal Reserve is asking for public input on whether to put restrictions on banks’ trading and warehousing of physical commodities amid lawmaker scrutiny of potential conflicts of interest and market manipulation. The Fed’s request released today seeks comment on 24 questions, including some on… Continue reading Restrictions On Banks
The Financial Times – The only way is up for commodities Finally, most investment portfolios remain significantly underweight commodities. A consensus mostly concerned with deflationary potential and weak economic growth shows little interest in an asset class where prices have been on a downward trend for more than three years. Surely commodities in 2014 qualifies… Continue reading Commodities
CNN.com – Pre-recession study predicted historic labor market drop A bunch of economists saw it coming, even before the recession. In 2006, five Federal Reserve economists published a paper on labor force participation, which was falling even back then. Their prediction: By 2013, the average annual rate would fall to 63.3%. The actual average, which we… Continue reading Was Today’s Labor Market Predicted In 2006?
The Financial Times – World Bank warns of capital flow risk to emerging markets An abrupt unwinding of central bank support for advanced world economies could cause capital flows to emerging markets to contract by as much as 80 per cent, inflicting significant economic damage and throwing some countries into crises, the World Bank has… Continue reading Capital Flows Risk To Emerging Markets
Comment Jim Bianco was on Bloomberg Asia yesterday discussing recent M&A activity, the outlook for U.S. stocks and corporate earnings, and why Stanley Fischer may be a problem for Fed Chairman Janet Yellen. To view the interview, click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. Regarding earnings – Through… Continue reading Discussing Earnings And Fischer
[pageview class=”PDFViewer” url=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/plugins/PDFViewer/plugin.php?id=167″] <a larger version of this graphic is in the .pdf above> Comment The labor force participation chart above shows the current decline is years ahead of various projections made over the last several years. In addition, the unemployment rate should dive well below the Fed’s target of 6.5% in the next month… Continue reading Labor Force Participation Falling Faster Than Forecasted
The Financial Times – Goldman turns bearish on US equities One of the bank’s chief strategists sees S&P 500 as overvalued Goldman Sachs has taken a bearish turn. David Kostin, the investment bank’s chief US equity strategist, spent much of a presentation to international clients on Monday showing how many measures demonstrated the S&P 500… Continue reading Goldman Turns Bearish On Stocks
The Wall Street Journal – J.P. Morgan Profit Declines Fourth-Quarter Earnings Decline to $5.28 Billion as Investment-Banking Business Slumps J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s fourth-quarter earnings dropped 7.3% as the bank grappled with weak results from its investment-banking unit, but results beat expectations. J.P. Morgan reported a profit of $5.28 billion, or $1.30 a share,… Continue reading JP Morgan Disappoints
The Financial Times – Junk bonds: investor protection ebbs When credit conditions tighten, buyers are likely to pay for complacency Rather than the adage: “you get what you pay for”, the junk bond market’s motto these days might be: “you get what they can get away with”. The low interest rates of the past few… Continue reading Junk Bond Protection
Comment The chart below shows three series: Red = Conforming 30-year fixed rate mortgage (mortgage less than 417,00 that is eligible to be sold to the GSEs) Blue = Jumbo 30-year fixed rate mortgage (mortgage more than 417,000 and not eligible to be sold to the GSEs) Green = Spread between the two rates In… Continue reading Jumbo Versus Conforming Loan Rates