Huffington Post – As Housing Markets Recover, Wall Street Beats Families To Homes By the values that have long governed American housing, Megan and Danny Gilbertson are precisely the sorts of people who are supposed to now be buying a home. They have good credit, steady jobs and decades worth of earning potential ahead of… Continue reading More On The Housing Recovery
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Gross to Buffett Omens Disregarded as Sales Soar: Credit Markets Sales of corporate bonds in the U.S. are surging toward the busiest May ever as borrowers race to the market before demand dries up with Bill Gross and Warren Buffett cautioning against buying debt at all-time low… Continue reading Corporate Bond Issuance
The Economist – Trading in oil: Libor in a barrel Oil markets fall under the suspicion of price-fixing on a global scale IT IS a lesson of the past five years that benchmarks in unregulated markets can fall victim to the incentives they create. Subprime mortgages bundled into securities often won high scores from ratings… Continue reading Crude Oil, The New LIBOR?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Kyle Bass bets on full-blown Japan crisis Kyle Bass hopes he is wrong, and so may everyone else, as the danger predicted by the founder of Dallas-based Hayman Capital is nothing less than a full blown financial crisis in the world’s third-largest economy, Japan. While… Continue reading A Japanese Crisis Coming?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Lex: Gold: Chinese and Indian demand ETFs matter more to prices than bangles do Although ETFs contribute barely 10 per cent of net gold demand, their performance has the biggest swing on prices. Hence, the net sale of 200 tonnes of gold by ETFs in… Continue reading Are Gold ETFs Driving The Market?
Comment In a world in which everything is scientific and algorithmic, here is today’s calculation-based, and thus 100% accurate, prediction of where the S&P will close. h/t Zero Hedge
The Wall Street Journal – Brent Arends: Is This the Best Time for Investors? Don’t Bet On It. These have been good times—surprisingly good times—for investors. Stock prices have hit record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has rocketed above 15000 for the first time, leaving even Wall Street bulls scrambling to raise their year-end… Continue reading The Stock/Bond Relationship
Zero Hedge (Blog) – Jeff Gundlach: “We Are Drowning In Central Banking” Last week, Bill Gross did not mince his words when he said that he now “sees bubbles everywhere” and that “when that stops there will be repercussions” but for now Benny and the Inkjets, not to mention his band of merry statist men,… Continue reading Everyone Has An Opinion On FOMC Policy
<Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – U.S. to Hit Debt Ceiling, but Has Some Breathing Room The U.S. government will bump up against the federal debt limit this weekend, though a series of emergency steps will allow it to continue paying all of the nation’s bills until at least… Continue reading The Debt Ceiling Returns
Reuters – Fed should declare victory on housing, end MBS purchases: Fisher The U.S. Federal Reserve should withdraw its targeted support of the housing sector now that it is on its way to recovery, a top Fed official said on Thursday. “I think we can rightly declare victory on the housing front and reef in… Continue reading Fisher: Mission Accomplished In Housing
The Financial Times – John Authers: Stock market optimism on this scale is hard to explain Stock market cycles do not move in tandem with either business or economic cycles. The idea is to buy stocks before earnings shoot upwards, not afterwards. So the upward re-rating of the last year or so, as investors have… Continue reading Markets Disconnect From Reality?
The Wall Street Journal – Will Interest Rates Ever Rise? Nearly every investor, analyst and economist thinks interest rates will climb. In a Wall Street Journal survey conducted in May, 98% of economists predicted that the yield of the 10-year Treasury note would be higher in December. But consider: In May 2011, 98% of economists… Continue reading Bond Market Hate Alive And Well