<Click on chart for larger image> MarketWatch.com – Gas prices at lowest level in almost 33 months: AAA Gasoline prices at the pump dropped Tuesday to their lowest since Feb. 22, 2011 — and they’re likely to fall very close to $3 a gallon by the end of the year, according to AAA. The national… Continue reading Gas Prices Tumble
Bloomberg.com – Central Banks Risk Asset Bubbles in Battle With Deflation Danger Central banks are finding it’s easier to push up stock and home prices than it is to prevent inflation from falling short of their targets. While declining costs for everything from gasoline to coffee can be good news for consumers, disinflation makes it… Continue reading The Dangers Of Deflation
CNBC – Huge change could be coming in 2014: Schwab CIO Since the bull market began, companies have repurchased more than $1 trillion of their own shares, helping to reduce float and boost the S&P 500 by 160 percent. In the second quarter of 2013 alone, companies repurchased $118 billion, compared with $24.2 billion in… Continue reading 2014 Market Talk
The Financial Times – Rates outlook drives leveraged loans Debt investors’ continuing hunger for decent returns, which has already fuelled a boom this year in the European market for high-yield corporate bonds, is also driving renewed interest in leveraged loans. The popularity of such loans, made to highly indebted companies, lies in their high and… Continue reading Corporate Debt In Europe
Comment In 1999 Andrew Lawrence, research director at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, put together a piece called “Fawlty Towers,” titled after a 1970s English comedy. Its plot revolved around record building heights and financial crisis. As the table and chart below show, every time a new record has been set for the world’s highest building over… Continue reading Another Skyscraper Curse/Peak?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – David Bowers: Japan effect eclipses Fed taper concerns Real monetary shock of 2013 was change in policy by Bank of Japan The BoJ’s commitment to higher inflation should create an incentive to borrow. At present, loan growth of 2 per cent does not make the… Continue reading Japan
CNBC – Is the shoeshine boy indicator flashing red? Joseph P Kennedy is quoted as saying that he knew in 1929 that Wall Street was overly optimistic and a crash was on its way when he started to get stock tips from his shoeshine boy. Is the current rush of mom-and-pop investors back into stocks… Continue reading Are Stocks Getting Overdone?
CNBC – Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher: QE won’t last forever The Federal Reserve’s monetary stimulus program cannot continue forever, Richard Fisher, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas told CNBC on Tuesday. “We’ve changed and impacted the markets because of our intervention and I understand there’s sensitivity, but markets should also bear in… Continue reading Talking QE
The Wall Street Journal – Job Gap Widens in Uneven Recovery Split in Employment Market Undermines Broader Economic Rebound America’s jobs recovery is proceeding on two separate tracks—a pattern that is persisting far longer than after past economic rebounds and lately has been growing worse. Despite three years of steady job gains, and four years… Continue reading The Jobs Gap
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Fear of Fed Stimulus Cutback Returns to Roil Emerging-Markets Currencies Mini Rerun of Summer Selloff; Indian Rupee Down 3% This Month, Brazilian Real Down 3.2% Bad news for emerging-markets currencies from India to Brazil: An improving U.S. economy is raising worries the Federal Reserve… Continue reading Is QE Roiling Emerging Market Currencies?
The Wall Street Journal – Andrew Huszar: Confessions of a Quantitative Easer We went on a bond-buying spree that was supposed to help Main Street. Instead, it was a feast for Wall Street I can only say: I’m sorry, America. As a former Federal Reserve official, I was responsible for executing the centerpiece program of… Continue reading Former Fed Official Offers An Apology for QE