The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Stocks Extend Winning Streak The Dow industrials cruised to a sixth straight gain and another all-time high following an upbeat report from the labor market. The impact of rising rates was on display Thursday in utility stocks, the only segment of S&P 500 to lose ground. Rising interest rates… Continue reading Everyone Is Bullish
The Financial Times – Insurers may be at the centre of the next big crisis As banks are finding some business too costly, insurers are moving in, writes Patrick Jenkins It would make a good pub quiz question: what was the most costly bailout of the 2008 financial crisis? Royal Bank of Scotland? Citigroup? Many… Continue reading Insurers
The Financial Times – Gillian Tett: Ideas adjust to new ‘facts’ of finance Eight ways conventional financial wisdom has changed post crisis Some readers probably have their own list of ideas. And I think perhaps one of the biggest and most important cultural shifts (which links many of the previous eight points) concerns the role… Continue reading Shifts In Finance
The Wall Street Journal – Natural-Gas Inventories Show a Shift in Market While not quite going from feast to famine, the U.S. natural-gas market suddenly looks a lot different. Futures prices have soared of late to a two-and-a-half year high as cold weather caused a spike in heating demand, taking an unprecedented bite out of… Continue reading Natural Gas
Yesterday we highlighted a story about the new rates for a first class stamp, including some charts that were not properly formatted. They were corrected in that post and are also shown below. <Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> In addition we created the chart below which shows the… Continue reading More On The Cost Of Stamps
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Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/bloomberg.mp3|titles=Conference Call ] Comment Jim Bianco was on Bloomberg Radio on Monday discussing the markets. To listen to the interview click above.
The Wall Street Journal – Despite Falling Short of Goals, Fed Suffers From QE-Fatigue The Federal Reserve justified its decision to begin pulling back on the pace of its bond-buying program Wednesday on the grounds that labor market conditions have been improving and appear set to continue doing so. However, there was another, less explicit… Continue reading More On Financial Stability Driving The Fed Decision To Start Tapering
The Wall Street Journal – Municipal Bonds Wrap Up Tough Year Municipal bonds are on track to post their worst annual performance in nearly two decades as 2013 ushered in more financial woes for U.S. cities. Municipal debt is down 2.58% so far this year after handing investors a 6.78% return in 2012 and a… Continue reading Municipal Bonds Have A Tough Year
The Financial Times – Mohamed El-Erian: Fed wins battle of the exit – for now With equity markets reacting enthusiastically to the Fed’s historic policy change announced last week, many have rushed to declare victory. Whether in asserting investor comfort with the policy regime shift or in declaring the definitive end of dependence on quantitative… Continue reading The Fed Wins – For Now
The Wall Street Journal – Economy Entering New Year on a Roll A pickup in business investment and robust new-home sales point to an economy on stronger footing heading into the new year. “It’s a holly, jolly data Christmas for the economy as all signs point to an accelerating economy,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist… Continue reading The Economy Picks Up
Barron’s – Gold’s Real Problem: Deflation Forget the Federal Reserve — the real threat to gold’s price is deflation. That’s the argument over at Societe Generale this morning. No, not runaway, Depression-style deflation — but rather the threat of a stubborn resilience in the value of major currencies, which would be a clear negative for… Continue reading Gold