The Wall Street Journal – Tulip Bulbs for Our Time Nobody, from Alan Greenspan to some of the world’s finest financial writers, has the slightest clue why the bitcoin has soared about 9,500% this year. “Is this a bubble in bitcoin?” the former Federal Reserve chairman asked in a Bloomberg TV interview last week. “Yeah,… Continue reading Bitcoin
The Wall Street Journal – Congress Readies a Year-End Dash In the final week of 2013 that the Senate and House are scheduled to be in Washington at the same time, lawmakers and aides are optimistic that negotiators can reach a budget accord and continue to make progress on a farm bill and other measures…Lawmakers’… Continue reading Debt Ceiling Negotiations
The Wall Street Journal – ‘Upstairs’ Trading Draws More Big Investors Some of the world’s biggest investors are changing the way they trade in U.S. markets in response to what they say are rising risks for institutions of their size. The strategies include conducting more “upstairs trades,” in which deals are executed among big institutions,… Continue reading Dark Pool Trading
The Wall Street Journal – Hedge Funds May Rebound and Spoil Buffett’s Bet Six years ago, Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., BRKB +1.48% made a $1 million bet with hedge-fund manager Protégé Partners that a simple stock-index fund would beat their handpicked stable of five funds of hedge funds over a decade. Then… Continue reading Buffett vs. Hedge Funds
The Financial Times – Hugh Hendry: US and China in reflexive pursuit of growth The key point is that the world’s monetary authorities are engaged in an all-out conflict about the role of mercantilism and its impact on the redistribution of global gross domestic product. Mercantilism is a policy of self-sufficiency that encourages exports, discourages… Continue reading More On Hugh Hendry Turning Bullish
[hana-flv-player video=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/120513.flv” width=”600″ height=”495″ description=”” player=”3″ autoload=”false” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”true” splashimage=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/themes/twentyten/images/splash.jpg” /] Comment Yesterday we hosted an internal conference call. Above is the webcast. The topics covered: Taper coming? We don’t think the Fed will taper in December. Even if we get a million jobs next month, they’re not going to taper in December (they… Continue reading No Taper Even With 1 Million Jobs Today
Comment The Wall Street hype machine is in full force with today’s payroll report and unemployment rate. The terms “great number” and “shocking surprise” are some of the hyperbole used to describe this report. While the number is better than expected, exactly how good is it? How Big A Surprise? The consensus, according to a… Continue reading Thoughts On The Payroll Report/Unemployment Rate
The Wall Street Journal – Kristina Peterson and Victoria McGrane: Senate Leaders Hope to Vote on Yellen This Month Senate leaders hope to vote on Janet Yellen’s nomination to lead the Federal Reserve before lawmakers leave Washington this year, a Senate Democratic leadership aide said Thursday. … There is no specific date set for Ms.… Continue reading Will Yellen Chair The December FOMC Meeting?
CNBC – Byron Wien: Why I’ve become bullish on the market Byron Wien is changing his tune. In January, he predicted that 2013 would be a tough year for stocks—but now he says that the market has further to run. “If the economy keeps on growing at a 2 percent or better rate, if earnings… Continue reading Throwing In The Towel And Turning Bullish
CNBC – CFOs warn on froth in US stocks, tech, bitcoin Despite optimism over the state of the global economy, chief financial officers from around the globe are becoming increasingly wary of asset valuations — with some stating that they have held back on deals because of froth in markets. More than 92 percent of… Continue reading CFOs Worry About Stock Market Froth
The Financial Times – How and why the Fed props up rates The market vogue is to obsess about how the Fed is suppressing long-term rates. But for years now, FT Alphaville has been trying to explain why, in reality, Fed intervention is as much focused on propping up short-term rates (preventing them from falling… Continue reading Is The Fed Propping Up Rates?