<Click on chart for larger image> MarketWatch – Brett Arends: Will Mom and Pop investors blow it again? The myth that this is an “unloved” bull market is just that — a myth. I can’t read the future, any more than anyone else can. But I know that Mom and Pop have a terrible track… Continue reading Does The Public Hate This Rally?
Barron’s – Kopin Tan: Speed Bumps Ahead The market’s second-half ride could be rougher than many think. And, going gaga over grocery shares. Fairway, but fair price? Can the Standard & Poor’s 500 reach 1800 this year? Why are you laughing? That once-remote threshold is just 6.4% above where the index stands now. The stock… Continue reading What’s Next For Stocks?
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Bond Hubris Overwhelms Fed in Riskiest Credit-Market Sectors Bond investors trying to divine when the Federal Reserve will reduce its unprecedented monetary stimulus are increasingly looking to the riskiest parts of the debt market, which are booming like before the financial crisis. The amount of loans made… Continue reading Bond Hate
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – U.S. 10-Month Budget Gap Narrows on Higher Revenue The U.S. government posted a 38 percent smaller budget deficit in the 10 months through July than a year earlier, even as the shortfall last month was wider than economists forecast, the Treasury Department said. Outlays exceeded receipts by… Continue reading The Deficit
CNBC – ‘Hindenburg Omen’ hovers over Wall Street again Jittery Wall Street traders are looking up in the sky and seeing Hindenburgs. That can be a bad thing for markets, which have suffered in the past when the tripwires associated with the “Hindenburg Omen” get activated. Market veteran Art Cashin said Monday that the market… Continue reading Bearish Talk
Vanity Fair – Michael Lewis: Did Goldman Sachs Overstep in Criminally Charging Its Ex-Programmer? A few months later Marino noticed that the government had failed to return Serge’s passport. That’s odd, he thought, and called and asked for it. The passport never arrived; instead Serge, now staying with friends in New Jersey, was arrested again… Continue reading Goldman Sachs
The Wall Street Journal – Fed’s Yellen Says Stance on Banks Hardened Contender for Fed Chairman Says Crisis Made Her Rethink Views on Regulation Janet Yellen, a top contender to lead the Federal Reserve, has evolved—in her own words—from a slightly “docile” regional bank regulator into a proponent of hard and clear rules designed to… Continue reading The “Save Yellen” Project Continues
San Francisco Federal Reserve Economic Letter – How Stimulatory Are Large-Scale Asset Purchases? The Federal Reserve’s large-scale purchases of long-term Treasury securities most likely provided a moderate boost to economic growth and inflation. Importantly, the effects appear to depend greatly on the Fed’s guidance that short-term interest rates would remain low for an extended period.… Continue reading Shocking News … The Federal Reserve Concludes Their Policies Worked!
The Wall Street Journal – Economists See Just Enough Growth for Fed to Pull Back The U.S. economic growth outlook has been upgraded to decent from lousy—which, while some distance from good, is likely good enough for the Federal Reserve to pull back on its stimulus later this year. On the positive side, fears of… Continue reading To Taper Or Not To Taper
Comment President Obama held a press conference on Friday and said the following (our highlights are in red): Major Garrett: Thank you, Mr. President. I’d like to ask you about this debate that’s playing itself out in editorial pages and the blogosphere, even in the Senate Democratic caucus, about the choice you eventually will make… Continue reading Who Will Obama Pick? Mr. Summers of MR. Yellen?
MarketWatch – Gold futures rally as SPDR Gold ETF assets rise Gold futures advanced Monday, reaching for a fourth consecutive win as a heavyweight gold exchange-traded fund logged its first increase in holdings since June…Marking the first rise since June 10, data from the SPDR Gold Trust Fund GLD 0.00% showed assets in the world’s… Continue reading Gold ETFs & Bullion Holdings