The Wall Street Journal – Diverse Menu of Bonds Is Served Up to Investors With corporate-debt issuance racing toward a record, some large companies are rolling out unusual offerings in a bid to serve the bond market’s every nook and cranny. Recent weeks have brought a $500 million “green bond” from Bank of America Corp.… Continue reading Appetite For Debt
The Financial Times – Oil supply: The cartel’s challenge At a private dinner early in November a group of executives from one of the world’s largest commodity traders was asked to predict the price of oil in a year’s time. Without exception the forecasts, scribbled on place cards without consultation, were for Brent crude to… Continue reading Crude Supply
Bloomberg.com – Fed Seeing Productivity Slowing as Breaking With Economic Trend Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and his colleagues are suffering through their own form of cognitive dissonance: revealing new concerns about the economy’s long-term prospects even as they forecast faster growth in 2014. Worker productivity, a key component of an economy’s health, has… Continue reading Falling Productivity?
The Wall Street Journal – Holiday Sales Sag Despite Blitz of Deals Discounts, Earlier Opening Hours Fail to Pry More Dollars Out of Budget-Conscious Shoppers Retail spending over Thanksgiving weekend dropped for the first time in at least seven years, the industry’s main trade group said, as the blitz of deals and earlier opening hours… Continue reading Black Friday Disappoints
The Economist – “Quant” hedge funds: Computer says no Hedge funds looking to spot and ride market trends are hoping for a fresh start After prospering through the market rout of 2008 (the prolonged slump gave even the dimmest trend-follower time to cotton on), the sector swelled from $91 billion to $215 billion, according to… Continue reading The Disaster That Is Quant Hedge Funds
Comment On Tuesday Former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh said the following: “The challenge for [The Fed] in December is to convince the markets that both their economic forecasts are right – that is the economy will be growing at 3.5% in 2016, the unemployment rate will be in the fives – and yet, interest rates… Continue reading Worry About The Fed
The New York Times – Euro Zone Inflation Rises to 0.9% as Jobless Rate Dips to 12.1% Inflation in the euro zone remained well below the European Central Bank’s target rate, while unemployment stayed close to a record high, according to official reports published Friday. Inflation in November rose to 0.9 percent in the 17… Continue reading European Unemployment
MarketWatch – Unsentimental bitcoin doesn’t take a holiday, blasts past $1,100 It seems only yesterday — it was only yesterday — that bitcoin went soaring past $1,000, popping eyeballs everywhere. But as most of America gears up to tuck into some turkey on Thursday, profit-takers seemed nowhere to be seen, as the virtual currency sailed… Continue reading Bitcoin
The Wall Street Journal – Investors Bet Against the Yen Money Managers Expect Bank of Japan to Ease Policy, Fed to Scale Back Stimulus Investors are piling into bets against the yen, taking another run at a trade that proved lucrative for some of the industry’s biggest money managers earlier this year. Wagers that the… Continue reading Betting Against The Yen
The Economist – Investing in commodities: Rust-proof Despite a tarnished record, commodities have not lost their lustre for all According to Barclays bank, the flood of investment in commodities reversed only slightly this year (see chart). If gold, which behaves more like a currency, is left out of the picture, the sum of commodity-related assets… Continue reading Commodities Investing
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – WTI Set for Longest Monthly Slide in Almost Five Years West Texas Intermediate crude headed for a third monthly decline, the longest losing streak in almost five years, amid rising OPEC exports and increased supplies in the U.S., the world’s biggest oil consumer. Futures rose as much… Continue reading Crude Oil