Zacks – Q1 Earnings Season: Another Average Reporting Period Q1 Earnings Season: Another Average Reporting Period We are in the thick of the 2013 Q1 earnings season, with results from 148 S&P 500 companies already out. A lot of earnings reports are still to come, but these 148 companies account for 42.5% of the index’s… Continue reading Earnings Season Update – Struggles Continue
The Telegraph – Angela Merkel: ‘Austerity makes it sound evil, I call it balancing the budget’ “I call it balancing the budget,” the German chancellor told her audience at a book presentation. “Everyone else is using this term austerity. That makes it sound like something truly evil.” Five months before Germany holds an election, Ms… Continue reading Europe
Reuters.com – James Saft: The next crisis: Fed promised, Fed delivered In Kocherlakota’s view, raising rates would definitely drive both prices and employment further down – and away from the Fed’s mandate. Higher rates would also reduce the risk of a financial crisis, he said, one which could hurt employment and price stability even more.… Continue reading Is The Federal Reserve Causing The Next Crisis?
The Wall Street Journal – Housing Sector 56% Back to Normal If the housing recovery were a home, the foundation, framing, roof, windows and siding would all be in place. Now the industry has to complete the second half of its return to normal. This is where progress can slow down. Despite some March setbacks… Continue reading Housing Is On Its Way Back To “Normal”
The Wall Street Journal – Fake Tweet Briefly Sends Market Veering A false tweet briefly sent financial markets veering on Tuesday, in the latest illustration of traders’ sensitivity. U.S. stocks and the dollar briefly plunged Tuesday afternoon and U.S. Treasury bonds and gold prices soared, after a tweet from the Associated Press’s Twitter account claimed… Continue reading Tweet Crash
<Click on chart for larger image> Zero Hedge – Bond Bubble, Or Rational Expectations? Visualizing 220 Years Of Treasury Yields Near multi-generational low bond yields, driven at least in part (and some think in full) by the undeniably large asset purchase program (Quantitative Easing (QE)) that the US Federal Reserve has been implementing in one… Continue reading 200 Years Of 10-Year Treasury Yields
The National Interest – The Priesthood of Central Bankers Is there another Paul Volcker waiting in the wings, prepared to slap sense into spendthrift American politicians on federal spending? Perhaps, but was Volcker really so radical a departure from Burns? Or Greenspan after them? In terms of their willingness to bail out large banks, Volcker… Continue reading Central Bankers
The Denver Post – Supercomputers could generate warnings for stock crashes Powerful computers can wreak havoc on U.S. stock markets, creating hair-raising volatility and eroding investor confidence in the lightning-fast search for profit. But far more powerful computers could help save it. High-speed trading now dominates U.S. stock markets, buying and selling in a fraction… Continue reading Can Computers Save The Market?
Reuters.com – US Mint suspends some gold coin sales after demand surge The U.S. Mint said it has suspended sales of its one-tenth ounce American Eagle gold bullion coins as surging demand after bullion’s plunge to two-year lows depleted the government’s inventory. This marks the first time it has stopped selling gold product since November… Continue reading Gold Coins
The Wall Street Journal – Republicans Say Fed ‘Willfully’ Withholding Documents Two House Republicans have threatened to subpoena the Federal Reserve for nonpublic documents on how the central bank plans to wind down its more than $3 trillion bond portfolio without harming the nation’s economy. In a letter viewed by the Wall Street Journal, House… Continue reading More On The Federal Reserve’s Secrets
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The Wall Street Journal – Consumers Running on More Than Fumes Economists polled by The Wall Street Journal estimate home prices will rise 5.3% this year, which would translate into a spending increase of about $20 billion. The stock market is up about 9% so far this year, which would translate to a further spending… Continue reading The Wealth Effect