Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – CPI: Noise Pollution at Low Altitudes The terms consumer price index and inflation are used interchangeably. But the former doesn’t always measure the latter especially at low rates, argues an economics paper. The disconnect sets up a challenge for policymakers. Three economists, Jessie Handbury of the University of Pennsylvania,… Continue reading Criticizing CPI
Business Insider – 2 Profit Margin Charts You Must Understand Before You Enter The Debate About Profit Margins One of the hottest ongoing debates in the stock market is about the sustainability of historically high profit margins. High profit margins have allowed companies to amplify modest sales growth into impressive earnings growth. However, the debate… Continue reading Profit Margins
The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Misfires on Germany Complaints about Germany’s huge current-account surplus are hardly unusual. But the spotlight placed on Germany by the U.S. Treasury in its latest semiannual currency report is extraordinary, as is the charge that its policies are dragging down the euro zone and global economy. In fact, given… Continue reading The U.S. vs. Germany
BusinessWeek – Bond Whiz Teams With a Nobel Winner Who Warns About Bubbles These should be boffo times to be a fund manager. But while the market is at an all-time high and investor enthusiasm is readying an arena-storming comeback tour, cash isn’t going into active management nearly as much as it is sluicing into… Continue reading Inflating Bubbles
The Wall Street Journal – Fannie Mae Sues Banks in Libor Case Fannie Mae sued nine of the world’s largest banks over alleged manipulation of interest rates, joining the legal battles in the rate-rigging scandal. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said that the mortgage-finance giant sustained an estimated $800 million… Continue reading Fannie Sues Banks Over LIBOR Rigging
Yesterday the CFTC released its Commitments of Traders data for October 15. As explained in an announcement last week, the regular release schedule should resume on November 8: The CFTC will begin issuing its weekly Commitments of Traders (COT) reports on a rolling basis as soon as they are ready – with the first report… Continue reading Commitments of Traders
None Today
Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC yesterday discussing the FOMC statement. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews, click here. Shortly after the FOMC statement, Jim made the following points: Financial Stability The Fed does not seem concerned with financial stability as they again did not… Continue reading The FOMC Meeting
Comment Yesterday we hosted a conference call titled Is It All About The Federal Reserve? To listen to the replay or view the handout, click on the links below. Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/103013.mp3|titles=Conference Call ] [pageview class=”PDFViewer” url=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/plugins/PDFViewer/plugin.php?id=153″]
Zero Hedge (Blog) – Santelli Stunned As Nobel Winner Fama Explains Fed Unwind “Is No Big Deal” If ever there was a few minutes of television to confirm the deep-seated disconnect between reality and the ivory-tower academics pulling the levers behind the curtain, CNBC’s Rick Santelli just exposed it. For once, simple questions were enough… Continue reading The Taper & The Efficient Market Hypothesis
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Ruchir Sharma: China’s Illusory Growth Numbers Beijing appears to be on track, yet again, to hit its official growth target. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, gross domestic product rose 7.8% in the third quarter of 2013, well on its way toward hitting… Continue reading Chinese Economic Statistics
<Click on chart for larger image> MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – Fed Makes Pricey Shares Even More Expensive As equity valuations levitate into ever more expensive territory, investors would be right to wonder how far the gap between the state of the wider economy and financial market can stretch before snapping back. That’s not just a… Continue reading Valuations