The Wall Street Journal – After Losing Season, Records May Be Safe U.S. stocks are facing a formidable obstacle on the road to further records: slowing profit growth. With 90% of companies in the S&P 500 having reported second-quarter results, firms are on track to post 2.2% earnings growth from the year-ago quarter. That is… Continue reading Earnings
<Click on chart for larger image> Fortune – The credit crunch is officially over For the first time since the start of the financial crisis, banks have more lent out then they did in late 2008. In mid-July, according to the Federal Reserve, which reports the figures with a lag, banks had $7.33 trillion in… Continue reading Bank Lending Keeps On Rising, Is The Credit Crisis Officially Over?
<Click on chart for larger image> MSN.com – September is stocks’ cruelest month The market is due for a correction. But even if it gets one, stocks should resume rallying once the immediate crises are addressed. Since 1971, September has been by far the worst month of the year for U.S. stocks. The average September… Continue reading Stock Seasonals
Bloomberg.com – Fed Seen Tapering Quantitative Easing Next Month Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke next month will probably reduce the central bank’s $85 billion in monthly bond purchases, according to 65 percent of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The Federal Open Market Committee’s first step may be small, with monthly purchases tapered by $10 billion… Continue reading Taper Talk
The Wall Street Journal – Senate Pressure on Fed Pick Irks White House Obama Aides Send Message to Democrats to Curb Lobbying as President Weighs Candidates for Next Central Bank Chief Surprised and irritated to see Senate Democrats touting a preferred candidate for Federal Reserve chairman, White House officials have moved behind the scenes to… Continue reading Behind the Scenes In The Yellen/Summers Fight
Project Syndicate – Allan H. Meltzer: When Inflation Doves Cry The Wall Street Journal recently ran a front-page article reporting that the monetary-policy “doves,” who had forecast low inflation in the United States, have gotten the better of the “hawks,” who argued that the Fed’s monthly purchases of long-term securities, or so-called quantitative easing (QE),… Continue reading Inflation Talk
The Wall Street Journal – Kevin Brady: The Federal Reserve’s Next Hundred Years The bickering over Bernanke’s successor is a sideshow. What’s really needed is a debate about Fed policy. The bickering between the Summers and Yellen camps should not distract the country from what should be an opportunity to seriously examine the future direction… Continue reading The Future Of The Federal Reserve
The Wall Street Journal – Euro Zone Returns to Growth The euro-zone economy emerged more strongly than expected from its longest postwar contraction in the three months to June, but a resolution to its banking and fiscal crises remains a distant prospect. The European Union’s official statistics agency Wednesday said the combined gross domestic product… Continue reading Eurozone
The Wall Street Journal – Student-Loan Load Kills Startup Dreams The rising mountain of student debt, recently closing in on $1.2 trillion, is forcing some entrepreneurs to abandon startup dreams and others, including Christine Carney of Orono, Maine, to radically reshape their business plans. Ms. Carney, 29 years old, and her husband, John, 31, started… Continue reading Student Loan Debt Kill Dreams
Buzz Feed – “Breaking Bad” Superfan Warren Buffett Says Walter White “Is A Great Businessman” “We made a deal. We were both businessmen. Why shed blood when you can split the money?” he said, laughing. “[Walter White] is a great businessman. We tried to stare each other down, and finally we gave our name simultaneously.… Continue reading Warren Buffett On Heisenberg And What Makes A Good Businessman
None Today
Comment About 90% of the S&P 500 companies have now reported. Below we update our measures of the earnings season which we continue to characterize as “not good.” <Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart… Continue reading Earnings Season Update