<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
The Wall Street Journal – Illinois Pension Fix Faces Political Test Some Fear Plan for Retirement System Will Result in Deep Cuts to Benefits Top lawmakers in Illinois reached a long-sought agreement to fix the nation’s most broken state public-employee retirement system, but the deal faces likely resistance from some legislators and unions who fear… Continue reading Illinois Pensions, Are They Fixed?
Zero Hedge – CNBC Core Viewership Drops To Fresh Two Decade Low In November, Lowest Since 1993 Some other highlights. CNBC has seen a constant decline in its viewership starting with 2008 when it attracted a total of 274,000 viewers, and 88,000 in its demo, for its full day audience. Subsequently viewership dropped as follows:… Continue reading CNBC’s Ratings Bear Market Continues
Reuters – Stores open early on Thanksgiving but shoppers in no rush Many forecasters expect overall sales growth to be tepid in a season plagued by shaky consumer confidence and given that there are few fashion must-haves. “The ones that are opening earlier are going to get more sales, but in the end, I don’t… Continue reading Black Friday
None Today
Comment Yesterday we hosted a conference call titled When will the Fed taper and what happens once they do? The handout, an audio replay of the conference call and cliff notes of the call are below. [pageview class=”PDFViewer” url=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/plugins/PDFViewer/plugin.php?id=161″] Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/112613.mp3|titles=Conference Call ] Webcast (please allow a few minutes to download, a streaming version will… Continue reading When Will The Fed Taper And What Happens Once They Do?
<Click on chart for larger image> Business Insider – CASE-SHILLER: Home Prices Rise 13.29%, The Biggest Gain Since February 2006 Case-Shiller home prices climbed 1.03% month-over-month in September, and were up 13.29% on the year. This beat economists’ expectations for a 0.9% month-over-month rise, and a 13% year-over-year rise. This was also the biggest gain… Continue reading Are House Prices Up Or Down?
The Financial Times – Companies must reinvest their cash hoard Over the past decade the distribution of wealth has increasingly favoured capital over labour. The trend is most conspicuous in the US, but it can be found in most developed economies. Labour’s share of output is now at historic lows, and may be at levels… Continue reading Cash On The Sidelines
Bloomberg.com – Slump-Watchers Dump Yield Curve for 1970s Tool The U.S. Treasury yield curve has lost its forecasting power and investors wanting to divine the possibility of a U.S. recession should turn to a little-known equation from the 1970s. That’s the recommendation of Morgan Stanley economist Ellen Zentner, who told clients in a Nov. 18… Continue reading The Yield Curve’s Predictive Power
Bloomberg.com – Fed Reveals New Concerns About Long-Term U.S. Slowdown 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 risen… Continue reading The Federal Reserve’s New Long-Term U.S. Slowdown Concerns
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Taper Is Not Raising Interest Rates; Bill Gross Buys Shorter-Dated Bonds The Federal Reserve has had a simple mantra for the past six months: Tapering is not tightening. Perhaps it’s finally sinking in. Traders and investors are warming to the idea that when the Fed dials back its bond buying in… Continue reading Stocks vs. Flows
MoneyBeat – Central Banks Struggle Vs Deflation/Bubbles Central bankers are struggling against two opposing forces: falling inflation and excessively weak growth on the one side and asset bubbles on the other. Increasingly it looks like solving the one will only exacerbate the other. Efforts to square this circle boil down to quantitative easing, forward guidance… Continue reading Macroprudential Regulation