Comment Jim was on Bloomberg TV after the close Friday discussing the late day selloff. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. The New York Times – Decline Late in Session Caps a Volatile Week Stocks sold off in late trading on Wall Street… Continue reading Late Session Stock Volatility
The Wall Street Journal – Fed’s Big Challenge: Avoid the Bull’s Horns The Federal Reserve has a big potential problem brewing, and there is no easy way out. Unemployment is far higher than it wants, and the pace of inflation is far too low. But its ultra-low interest-rate policy has provoked a reach for yield… Continue reading The Federal Reserve’s Conundrum
The Financial Times – G8 needs to deal with impact of Abenomics, says Hyun Oh-seok South Korea has warned that G8 leaders need to do more to tackle the “unintended consequences” of Japan’s monetary easing when they gather for a summit later this month amid mounting concerns about the knock-on effects of a weaker yen.… Continue reading Questioning The World’s Central Banks
Bloomberg.com – Gold Premium Surges in China as ‘Aunties’ Buy: Chart of the Day (no link) The premium gold buyers in China pay to take immediate delivery of bullion jumped four-fold as consumers thronged jewelry shops after prices plunged by the most in three decades, luring so-called bottom fishers. Photos of Chinese “aunties,” a term… Continue reading Paper Gold vs. Physical Gold
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Bob Rice: The Hedge-Fund Investment Puzzle If hedge funds are as bad as the headlines would have us believe, why do sophisticated institutions keep investing in them? That’s one poorly understood aspect of hedge-fund investing. Another is the widely reported “average hedge fund” performance… Continue reading All About Hedge Funds
Bloomberg.com – Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund Falls 1.9% in May Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTRX), the world’s largest mutual fund, declined 1.9 percent this month, the biggest monthly loss since September 2008. The performance of the $293 billion Total Return Fund puts it behind 94 percent of similarly managed funds through May… Continue reading Fixed Income’s Tough Month
MoneyBeat (WSJ Blog) – The Hole in the Fed’s Plan While the Fed’s stimulus programs have been a great boon for the stock market, corporate margins and profit growth, the “wealth effect” still seems to be largely bypassing the majority of consumers. … Nearly six years after the recession started, almost four years after the… Continue reading The Wealth Effect
The Wall Street Journal – Risk-Averse Culture Infects U.S. Workers, Entrepreneurs Americans have long taken pride in their willingness to bet it all on a dream. But that risk-taking spirit appears to be fading. Three long-running trends suggest the U.S. economy has turned soft on risk: Companies add jobs more slowly, even in good times.… Continue reading The Public Does Not Trust The Markets
The Wall Street Journal – Deficit Deal Even Less Likely Shrinking near-term federal deficits, slowing health-care cost increases and partisan gridlock have all but wiped out the likelihood for a deal this year to reduce long-term U.S. deficits, perhaps delaying a compromise until after the 2014 midterm elections, White House officials and congressional lawmakers said.… Continue reading The Deficit
Barron’s – Bubble, Bubble, Money and Trouble Marc Faber, publisher of the Gloom Boom & Doom Report, is no fan of central-bank money-printing, which widens the wealth gap. But he’s bullish on Asian markets such as Vietnam, and European telecom and utility shares. Marc Faber occupies a unique perch in the investment universe, as the… Continue reading Marc Faber Speaks
The New York Times – GRETCHEN MORGENSON:Quantity Over Quality in Bank Profits BANK stocks are back, and with a vengeance. Last week, the KBW Bank Index of 24 leading national and regional bank stocks climbed to its highest closing price since 2008. The index is up 20 percent so far in 2013 and 40 percent… Continue reading Banks
Bloomberg.com – CFA June Test Takers Fall First Time Since 2005 Enrollment for the Chartered Financial Analyst exam in June fell for the first time in eight years as Wall Street employment tumbles. The number of candidates registered to take the June CFA exam, administered worldwide today, dropped 2.2 percent to 146,605 from a year… Continue reading Sign Of The Apocalypse?