Bloomberg.com – Gold Bear Bets Reach Record as Soros Cuts Holdings Hedge-fund managers are making the biggest ever bet against gold as billionaire George Soros sold holdings last quarter and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. predicted more declines after the longest slump in four years. The funds and other large speculators held 74,432 so-called short contracts… Continue reading Betting Against Gold
The Wall Street Journal – Thinking the Unthinkable: Quitting a Currency Certainly, Europeans have protested austerity. But despite some scares, no country has left the euro. Support for remaining in the common currency remains high, even though there is widespread disenchantment with the European Union. Over 60% of Spaniards, Greeks, Italians and French want to… Continue reading The Viability Of The Euro
FT Alphaville – The end of QE? Marc Ostwald at Monument Securities has spotted that an important theme is developing: a rise in the number of warnings about QE suspension and QE exit. As he noted on Thursday regarding the recent warnings from the BIS and the IMF: To my jaundiced eye, I would have… Continue reading Google Trends: “Federal Reserve Purchases”
Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC discussing the Federal Reserve’s exit strategy and earnings. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. Much of what Jim discussed in the interview was also discussed in our conference call yesterday. To listen to conference call replay or… Continue reading Is The Risk Rally Due To The Federal Reserve Or Fundamentals?
<Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics – Jon Hilsenrath: Data Quirks May Ease Fed’s Mind on Inflation Slowdown The disparity between core PCE (1.13%) and core CPI (1.70%) is especially striking. The PCE number is well below the Fed’s 2% inflation target. Much lower and it might imply the kind of deflationary… Continue reading Data “Quirks” At The Federal Reserve
The Wall Street Journal – To Buy Bonds or Not to Buy: Fed Hawks, Doves Air Views Federal Reserve officials are deeply engaged in debating when to begin dialing back an $85 billion-a-month bond buying program, but don’t appear near consensus on when to pull the trigger. The presidents of the Dallas, Richmond and Philadelphia… Continue reading Hawks vs Doves
<Click on chart for larger image> China Daily – China cuts US bond holdings China, the United States’ top foreign creditor, slightly reduced holdings of US Treasury issues modestly in March despite an overall increase in demand among foreign investors, according to data released on Wednesday. The Treasury Department said China and No 2 creditor… Continue reading China Reduces U.S. Treasury Bond Holdings
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Gold Bears Revived as Rout Resumes After Coin Rush Gold bears are dominant again after prices resumed their slump and billionaire George Soros joined investors selling holdings in exchange-traded products that have retreated to a two-year low. Seventeen analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect prices to fall next… Continue reading Gold
Reuters.com – James Saft:Column: QE and the portfolio puzzle Quantitative easing may well be pushing investors to hold more cash rather than risk assets, blunting its impact as monetary policy. Known as the portfolio rebalancing channel, the thinking behind QE rests partly on the assumption that buying up government bonds will drive interest rates down… Continue reading What Is Normal Now?
The Wall Street Journal – Tepid Profits, Roaring Stocks Stock-rally skeptics said that spells trouble. They contend soft U.S. economic growth and expanding P/E multiples can’t coexist forever. Economists predict U.S. gross domestic product will expand at a slower rate in the second quarter than the first, when it increased at a 2.5% annual rate.… Continue reading Poor Earnings Means Nothing When You Have QE
Bloomberg.com – Is This Another Bubble? We Can’t Know Without Better Data Are the easy-money policies of the world’s central banks setting financial markets up for a crash? We would have a much better idea if we measured how much of the buying is being done with borrowed money. In recent months, soaring prices of… Continue reading Bubble Talk