The Street – Ben Bernanke’s House of Cards Now, Bernanke will tell you that QE has helped with both paths but the data suggest otherwise. Job and income growth remain anemic and well below prior recoveries. Thus, we are left with artificially suppressing interest rates and the current conundrum. If a 0% Fed Funds rate… Continue reading Bernanke’s House Of Cards
The Financial Times – Look to ‘Helicopter’ Ben for clues to Yellen’s Fed Janet Yellen is haunted by history of dovish monetary sentiment What can we expect from a Federal Reserve helmed by newly nominated chair Janet Yellen? Unlikely as it may sound, we can draw insight from a decade-old misinterpreted remark. In November 2002,… Continue reading Yellen’s Federal Reserve
The New York Times – Raj Chetty: Yes, Economics Is a Science THERE’S an old lament about my profession: if you ask three economists a question, you’ll get three different answers. This saying came to mind last week, when the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science was awarded to three economists, two of whom, Robert… Continue reading Is Economics A Science?
MarketWatch.com – U.S. economy faces host of big new problems Commentary: Dysfunction in the Beltway dents the recovery effort Here’s the problem: we know how to fix the dysfunction inside the Beltway, but it requires approval by the same pols that created this mess in the first place! First of all, we need to abolish… Continue reading The U.S. Economy
The Wall Street Journal – J.P. Morgan Faces Another Potential Huge Payout Investors Are Seeking at Least $5.75 Billion Tied to Mortgage-Backed Securities Investors are seeking at least $5.75 billion from J.P. Morgan Chase JPM & Co. in a bid to recover losses from mortgage-backed securities sold to them before the financial crisis, said people… Continue reading More Trouble For J.P. Morgan
The Wall Street Journal – Employers Add 148,000 Jobs; Unemployment Falls to 7.2% U.S. employers added 148,000 jobs in September, less than expected, in a sign that hiring stumbled heading into Washington’s latest round of budget battles. The Labor Department’s latest job-market snapshot showed payrolls rising at a rate lower than the average for the… Continue reading Employment In Pictures
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Margin Debt Hits New High Investors borrowed a record amount against their brokerage accounts last month, as margin debt levels made the biggest monthly jump since January. Last month, investors borrowed $401.2 billion against their portfolios, exceeding April’s record of $384.4 billion, according to… Continue reading Margin Debt Hits A New High
The New York Times – Stalemate in Washington May Dent Wall Street Profits, DiNapoli Says As the end of the year approaches, Wall Street employees and those who watch New York State’s coffers alike keep a close eye on just how much reward will be reaped by those working at financial firms. If the latest… Continue reading Earnings
The Financial Times – Treasuries have turned anything but risk-free Those who can diversify out of US debt are likely to do so The US debt ceiling imbroglio may not have resulted in sovereign default, but I suspect that the rise in US Treasury yields from early summer until the temporary resolution of the crisis… Continue reading U.S. Treasuries Losing Their Luster?
Project Syndicate – China’s Wake-Up Call from Washington China buys Treasuries because they suit its currency policy and the export-led growth that it has relied on over the past 33 years. As a surplus saver, China has run large current-account surpluses since 1994, accumulating a massive portfolio of foreign-exchange reserves that now stands at almost… Continue reading China
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Dollar emerges as biggest victim in US debt drama Dollar bulls are in retreat. For much of the last year, investors have been adamant that the next big trend in currency markets would be the dollar’s resurgence. But the US currency has emerged as the… Continue reading The U.S. Dollar