Comment Today at 9 AM CT (10:00 AM ET, 7:00 AM PT, and 15:00 BST) , Bianco Research, in conjunction with Arbor Research & Trading, will be hosting a webcast/teleconference moderated by Jim Bianco. Join us today as we detail the state of the economy and earnings, which do not look that good, versus the… Continue reading The Divergence Between The State of the Economy and The State of the Markets
The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: Bernanke Plays Down Link Between Jobless Rate, Fed Moves Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke played down Wednesday the unemployment rate’s weight in the central bank’s calculation of when to start raising short-term borrowing costs, a fresh example of the challenge the Fed faces explaining its easy-money policies to… Continue reading Bernanke Continues To Promise Us He Won’t Raise Rates
Bloomberg.com – Masters of Universe Don’t Need Fed Hand-Holding The last two months have been a nightmare for the Federal Reserve, which has been doing everything in its power to depress long-term interest rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose more than a full percentage point from early May to early July amid… Continue reading Manipulating The Markets
The Wall Street Journal – IBM’s Unexceptional Exceptionals If International Business Machines engineered products as well as it engineers its earnings, maybe its revenue growth wouldn’t be so anemic. Never mind that second-quarter results, reported late Wednesday, showed sales declining 3% from the prior year. IBM’s stock still increased 2.6% in after-hours trading, suggesting that… Continue reading More On Gaming Earnings Releases
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – How Far Should Fed Go to Pop Potential Bubbles? How far should regulators go to pop emerging bubbles? Federal Reserve governor Sarah Bloom Raskin, citing the recent housing boom and bust as evidence, said U.S. regulators should use a wide range of tools to combat bubbles and not rely… Continue reading Popping Bubbles
Forbes – Bernanke Admits To Congress: We Are Printing Money, Just ‘Not Literally’ In his semi-annual testimony before the House Committee on Financial Services, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was very clear about how the central bank engages in quantitative easing. We are printing money, just not literally, the Chairman told policymakers, while contradicting himself regarding… Continue reading Money Printing
The Wall Street Journal – Bernanke: Broad Support On FOMC For 7% Jobless Rate Guidepost on QE Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that there was “broad support” among Fed officials for the 7% jobless rate he cited in mid-June as the level of unemployment there was likely to be when the Fed shuts… Continue reading Bernanke Is Questioned On 7% Unemployment Again
International Business Times – PayPal Error Makes Man A ‘Quadrillionaire,’ Site Gives Chris Reynolds $92 Quadrillion Chris Reynolds was a “quadrillionaire” for a short amount of time. The 56-year-old Pennsylvania man received an online money transfer from PayPal on Friday, making his balance more than $92 quadrillion. Reynolds, who spends around $100 per month on… Continue reading Step Aside, Bill Gates & Carlos Slim
Conference Call Presentation/Charts of the Week Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/503842-709492.mp3|titles=Conference Call ] Topics Covered This Week Include: US GDP Growth US Growth Expectations European GDP Growth The Forecast For Europe Japanese GDP Growth The Forecast For Japan China GDP Growth The Forecast For China World GDP Earnings Expectations How Companies Beat Earnings Revenue Expectations How Companies Beat… Continue reading Conference Call Presentation/Charts of the Week
Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC yesterday discussing the markets and Bernanke. To view the interview, click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. At the end of the interview we talked about the Federal Reserve’s mantra that “tapering is not tightening.” Bernanke argues their level of holdings matter… Continue reading Why Tapering IS Tightening!
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – China’s Treasuries Holdings Hit Record as Investors Sell China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries (BUSY) rose to a record in May even as net selling by private foreign investors in notes and bonds reached an all-time high, government data showed. China stayed the biggest foreign owner of Treasuries… Continue reading China’s U.S. Treasury Holdings Hit A New Record, Hedge Funds Sell