The Wall Street Journal – Treasury Bears in Uphill Battle Against BOJ, Fed If the adage of “don’t fight the Fed” is good advice, then the prospect of going against both the U.S. central bank and the Bank of Japan is especially daunting for Treasury bears. Those who had earlier this year successfully bet that… Continue reading Don’t Fight The Central Banks
The Wall Street Journal – Greece on Track to Receive Next Aid Tranche Greece is on track to meet the conditions of its international bailout, paving the way for the payment of a fresh slice of financial aid, international lenders said on Monday after reaching an agreement on the country’s economic targets. “The mission’s view… Continue reading Greece
Bloomberg.com – Stocks Decouple From Bonds as S&P Gain Defies Yield Drop Capitulating bears and overseas buyers are drowning out every other concern for American stocks, pushing the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) to successive records even after the biggest drop in Treasury yields since June. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed at… Continue reading Stocks vs. Bonds
The Wall Street Journal – Economist Eyed for Fannie Watchdog Mark Zandi, a prominent economist, has emerged as a leading candidate to head the regulator of mortgage-finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac amid signs that he would likely attract support from Senate Republicans, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House hasn’t… Continue reading Mark Zandi To Head FHFA?
The Financial Times – Mohamed El-Erian: The agony and ecstasy of broken markets The Japanese bond purchase programme has already had a material effect on financial prices around the world. It will now alter the global investment landscape by changing the nature and size of capital flows. Yet once the initial excitement passes, the real… Continue reading Centrally Planned Economies
Zero Hedge (Blog) – There Is No Risk Left… Anywhere Many have argued that sovereign CDS markets ’caused’ the problems in Europe – as opposed to simply ‘signaled’ what was in fact being hidden by cash market manipulation. But as the IMF notes in a recent paper, there are times when the CDS market leads… Continue reading In Search Of Risk Assets
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Budget Deficit Is Shrinking – a Lot The federal budget deficit: It’s shrinking. Lost in the chatter about President Barack Obama’s behind-schedule delivery of his annual budget was this word from the U.S. Treasury: The federal deficit for the first six months of the fiscal year (October 2012-March 2013)… Continue reading The Budget Deficit & Sequestration
CNBC – By the Minutes: Does the Fed Hate Pimco and Bank of America? The list of banks, hedge funds and private equity firms that prematurely received the minutes of the Federal Reserve raises a Sherlock Holmes-style dog-that-didn’t-bark question: Why were a few very large financial institutions not on the list? Bank of America, for… Continue reading Who Did NOT Get The Minutes Early?
The Wall Street Journal – Economists View Recent Swoon as Mere Hiccup in Growth The spring swoon has returned to the U.S. economy, with strong first-quarter growth followed by signs of a slowdown as the second period gets under way. But economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey see the economy picking up… Continue reading The Spring Swoon
The Wall Street Journal – Can We Afford Another Housing Boom? Fannie Mae put an exclamation point on the housing rally with last week’s announcement of its largest-ever annual profit. The news comes soon after Fannie’s cousin, Freddie Mac, announced its own record high. These results may seem like cause for celebration after years of… Continue reading Housing
The Financial Times – Bond investors show generous side Few people choose to donate money to government. Bond investors are an exception. The UK has just issued an 11-year bond with the lowest yield ever, 1.26 percentage points below inflation, locking in losses in real terms for investors. No surprise here. Real yields are negative… Continue reading Negative Real Yields