MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Jason Zweing: Buying Stocks at Record Highs: Will You Be Sorry? Hedge-fund manager Carl Icahn says he is “very cautious” on U.S. stocks, which “could easily have a big drop” from their new record highs. Ben Inker, a director at asset manager GMO, forecasts that overall, U.S. stocks will suffer losses… Continue reading Stock Market Valuation
Zero Hedge (Blog) – Larry Summers: “History Will Overwhelmingly Approve QE” For anyone who still suggests, incorrectly, that Larry Summers was the “wrong” choice for Fed Chairman just because he would promptly end QE the second he was elected as the erroneous popular meme goes, we have one soundbite from his recent Bloomberg TV interview… Continue reading Larry Summers On QE
The New York Times – N. Gregory Mankiw: In Fed Policy, the Exit Music May Be Hard to Hear Is it time for the Federal Reserve to start its exit from the extraordinary set of policies it has pursued over the past few years? That crucial question is on the minds of the nation’s central… Continue reading The Fed’s Exit Strategy
The Financial Times – US banks warn Fed interest cut could force them to charge depositors Leading US banks have warned that they could start charging companies and consumers for deposits if the US Federal Reserve cuts the interest it pays on bank reserves. Depositors already have to cope with near-zero interest rates, but paying… Continue reading The Effects Of Cutting Interest On Reserves
The Wall Street Journal – Rising Interest May Crash the House Party When cash is trash, the housing market is happy. That was the case during the mid-2000s boom when lenders required little or no money down. It is also true today, but for different reasons: Not only has unprecedented central-bank stimulus kept mortgage rates… Continue reading Interest Rates & The Housing Market
The Financial Times – Stephen King: There is no easy escape from secular stagnation For all the better-than-expected economic news this year, the volume of economic activity across the developed world remains remarkably depressed. The language of recession and recovery no longer seems relevant. Instead, we are faced with persistent economic stagnation. Those who wonder… Continue reading Secular Stagnation
The Financial Times – Robin Harding: Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke sets off on a mission to explain Ben Bernanke sounded a touch exasperated last week when asked how the US Federal Reserve could use communication policy as an alternative form of economic stimulus to its $85bn a month of asset purchases. “You basically just asked… Continue reading Policy Communication
<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – The Record That Counts Is In Reach One of the last stock-market records still standing might finally fall soon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended Friday at 16064.77, its seventh straight weekly gain. Despite all this year’s hoopla, the Dow needs to climb another 155… Continue reading Inflation Adjusted Stock Prices
<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Predicting Gulf-Coast Oil Prices is Getting Harder The price of oil on the Gulf Coast – home to half of U.S. refining capacity — is becoming increasingly tough to predict, a new report from Credit Suisse says. The U.S. oil boom has kept prices in… Continue reading Crude Prices
TechDirt (Blog) – French Stock Market Regulator Hits US Blogger With $10K Fine For Publishing Opinion On French Bank’s Leverage Ratio An American market blogger found himself on the receiving end of a 8,000 euro fine for quoting another blogger. In real money, that works out to an almost $11,000 fine. And all for quoting… Continue reading Beware Your Opinion On French Banks
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The Federal Reserve – Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee, October 29-30, 2013 Staff Economic Outlook In the economic projection prepared by the staff for the October FOMC meeting, the forecast for growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) in the near term was revised down somewhat from the one prepared for the previous… Continue reading The Fed’s Summary Of Economic Projections