CNBC – Cramer: Dollar is a laughing stock worldwide CNBC’s Jim Cramer said the U.S. is “a laughing stock around the world, maybe worse than Italy in some ways when I look at benchmarks. We have obviously lost the faith of a lot of countries.” “If there was a way to be able to take… Continue reading Caterwauling About The Shutdown
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Washington truce stretches out debt crisis, leaves economy in limbo Analysts describe festering political conflict as “a Sword of Damocles”, with politicians facing three more showdowns until March Washington’s eleventh hour debt deal has averted an immediate crunch for US and the world, but the crisis now threatens to… Continue reading More On Washington’s Deal
The New York Times – Paul Krugman: The Damage Done A useful starting point for assessing the damage done is a widely cited report by the consulting firm Macroeconomic Advisers, which estimated that “crisis driven” fiscal policy — which has been the norm since 2010 — has subtracted about 1 percent off the U.S. growth… Continue reading Uncertainty Doesn’t Work, Except When It Helps Our Cause
Bloomberg.com – Greenspan’s ‘Map’ Is Clueless Trip Through Bubble Land For someone so exercised about federal deficits, Greenspan is strangely silent on his own role in the Bush tax cuts, which might not have been adopted in 2001 (further cuts came in 2003) without his blessing for the general concept. And there’s the Great Recession,… Continue reading Alan Greenspan, Remember Him?
Reuters – Fed’s Fisher warns of potential U.S. housing bubble, MBS buys A top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday he is seeing fresh signs of a U.S. “housing bubble” and warned about the central bank’s ongoing purchases of mortgage-based bonds. “I’m beginning to see signs not just in my district but across the country… Continue reading BubbleTalk
The Economist – High-yield bonds: An appetite for junk Companies have taken advantage of investors’ growing willingness to buy speculative bonds A long period of cheap finance makes it less likely that issuers will be forced to default in the short term, and the reduced likelihood of default makes it more attractive for investors to… Continue reading Junk Bonds
The Economist – The fiscal deal in Washington: Worse than Europe, really None of the deeper problems with American government was solved this week IMAGINE you are in a taxi and the driver suddenly turns violently and speeds towards a wall, tyres screeching, only to stop at the very last moment, inches from the bricks—and… Continue reading Welcome To The United States Of Europe
The Wall Street Journal – Growth Speeds Up in China China’s growth accelerated in the third quarter, putting to rest for now fears that the world’s No. 2 economy was headed for a sharp slowdown that would rattle world markets. Scrutiny will now fall on coming quarters to see whether China’s economy—a major global growth… Continue reading Chinese Growth
<Click on chart for larger image> Washington Wire (WSJ Blog) – How *Exactly* the Debt Deal Allows U.S. to Continue Borrowing The bipartisan deal approved by Congress on Wednesday night extends the country’s borrowing limit by suspending the debt ceiling until Feb. 7. There are two ways to extend the government’s ability to keep borrowing… Continue reading Suspending The Debt Ceiling vs. Raising The Debt Ceiling
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Tallying the Economic Toll of the Shutdown and Default Threat The economic toll of the past three weeks will likely take months or years to assess completely. Here’s what we know right now. The shutdown and debt-ceiling fight certainly slowed the economy to some extent, but how much remains… Continue reading The Cost Of A Shutdown
The Wall Street Journal – Investors Shift Bets on Timing of Fed Tapering In Europe, where expectations of a deal had already mostly been reflected in stock markets, the tone quickly shifted. European stocks failed to build on the gains they forged Wednesday, and currencies and bond markets moved to reflect increasingly confident expectations that… Continue reading Timing The Taper