Reuters – Spain’s economy shrinks for seventh straight quarter Spain fell deeper into recession in the first three months of the year, the seventh straight quarter it has seen its economy shrink, data showed on Tuesday. Rising exports and weaker imports, reported separately, provided some relief by cutting the trade deficit. The data showing further… Continue reading More Pain In Europe … And Will The ECB React?
The New York Times – As Jobs Lag, Fed Is Viewed as Unlikely to Do More The Federal Reserve is making modest progress in its push to reduce the unemployment rate. But that is not the jobs goal Congress actually established for the Fed. The central bank is supposed to be maximizing employment. And on… Continue reading Will The Federal Reserve Do More?
Bloomberg.com – Market’s $20 Trillion Yielding 1% Shows Austerity Mistaken At a time when politicians are squeezing budgets to cut borrowing, the bond market is clamoring for more debt, pushing yields on almost $20 trillion of government securities to less than 1 percent. The average yield to maturity for the Bank of America Merrill Lynch… Continue reading Low Rates
CNBC – Jeff Cox: Why the Jobs Outlook Just Got a Whole Lot Worse Weak corporate top-line growth is likely to spell an equally troubled bottom line for the 11.7 million unemployed. Quarterly earnings thus far have shown the typical strong level of profit beats, with just more than two of three companies in the… Continue reading Jobs and Profits
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Euro-Area Unemployment Increases to Record 12.1% Amid Recession The euro-area jobless rate rose to a record in March, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to take additional measures to boost growth. The euro-area unemployment rate advanced to 12.1 percent from 12 percent in the previous two… Continue reading Europe Unemployment
The Financial Times – Fed faces calls for radical reform A senior Republican congressman has called for everything from the gold standard to a price level target to be on the table in a 100th anniversary review of the Federal Reserve’s mandate. Kevin Brady, who chairs the joint economic committee, wants Congress to appoint a… Continue reading Fixing The Federal Reserve
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The Wall Street Journal – Profits Sequel Won’t Beat Original What with the low bar that analysts typically set for them, it shouldn’t be a shocker that companies’ first-quarter earnings are clearing estimates. But the margin that they’re clearing them by is pretty impressive. With results from about 271 of companies in the index already… Continue reading No Way To Sugar Coat It, Earnings Are Still Not Good!
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – With GDP Revisions, BEA Aims to Keep It Simple Steve Landefeld, who has directed the Bureau of Economic Analysis since 1995, presides over a vast operation that strives not to be complex. “We like to keep things simple,” Mr. Landefeld said Friday, shortly after the BEA released its initial… Continue reading More On The BEA’s Upcoming GDP Benchmark Revision
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Uncertainty Is the Enemy of Recovery Anyone hoping for signs of a healthy economic recovery was disappointed by lower-than-expected GDP growth for the first quarter of 2013—a mere 2.5%, far short of the forecast 3.2%. Meanwhile, the stock market continues to soar, hitting record… Continue reading Uncertainty & The Economy
The Wall Street Journal – Gold Rally May Lose Steam Gold prices are up 6.8% from recent 26-month lows, but there is evidence that these gains are temporary, traders and analysts say. A rush to buy physical gold and jewelry in India and China helped prices bounce higher last week. But at the same time,… Continue reading Gold
The Financial Times – Bubble bursts for hedge fund gala that celebrated age of excess As with the bottles of Krug, the Ark gala – once the lavish pinnacle of London’s boomtime financial social scene – has been put on ice. The dinner, which earned notoriety for scaling the heights in outrageous ostentation and financial… Continue reading Is Hedge Fund Performance Finally Catching Up?