The New York Times – Italy and France Pose Grave Risks to Euro Zone, Report Says Declining competitiveness in France and Italy due to high debt and labor costs is threatening to cause grave economic problems for the rest of the euro area, the European Commission warned on Wednesday. In Spain and Slovenia, structural economic… Continue reading Europe
Forbes.com – My Cohort Believes QE Only Benefited the Nation’s Wealthiest What’s more, QE was judged to have created a possible “bubble” in common stocks– and had as well pushed bond prices to peak historical prices, though I didn’t hear the concept of “bubble” bonds used derogatively. As to the possible inflation from QE, there… Continue reading Dinner Talk
CNBC – Fed Hawks Are ‘Irritant,’ Ignore Them: Economist Federal Reserve hawks who hope for an early end to ultra-easy monetary policy are an “irritant” and should be ignored, an economist said on Wednesday, ahead of the Fed’s release of minutes from its March Open Market Committee meeting. “The minutes will surely tell us, again,… Continue reading Ignore The Hawks At The Federal Reserve
Real Time Economics – Job Openings Hit Post recession High Employers posted 3.9 million jobs in February, the most since the recession ended in June, 2009, the Labor Department said Tuesday. There are now just over three unemployed workers for every job opening, down from a peak of nearly seven in 2009. The data, from… Continue reading Job Openings
None Today
Comment Jim Bianco was on Bloomberg TV earlier this morning discussing his market outlook, Japan and U.S. markets. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. We also discussed Japan at the end of our conference call last week. Unfortunately [QE] never has worked. Defenders… Continue reading Market Outlook, Japan And Central Bank Policy
The Big Picture – The New Great Rotation: Commodities into Bonds The story goes something like this: U.S. Treasury Bonds had enjoyed a 30 year bull market, and it was now coming to an end. Paul Volcker rebooted fixed income, taking rates to 20% to break inflation, and in the three decades since bonds have… Continue reading The New Great Rotation
Bloomberg Businessweek – Bernanke Says Fed to Press U.S. Banks to Reduce Liquidity Risk Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the Fed plans to avert strains in the banking system by pushing financial companies to better manage liquidity risk and reduce reliance on wholesale funding. Regulators “will continue to press banks to reduce further… Continue reading Bernanke, U.S. Banks And Stress Tests
CNBC – Market Crash Likelihood Goes Up If Stocks Continue to Rally: Marc Faber In the near-term, the U.S. stock market is overbought and adding that any more near-term gains portend big trouble for the market, “The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report” publisher Marc Faber told CNBC on Monday. “If we continue to move up,… Continue reading Marc Faber Speaks
The Financial Times – BlackRock urges Fed to rein in QE3 “Fed policy has had a distorting effect on capital allocation decisions of all kinds at virtually every level of the economy,” he told the Financial Times. “It is a very large and dull hammer for markets.” The Fed buys $85bn of Treasuries and mortgage-backed… Continue reading Big Bond Managers Worry About QE
The Washington Post – Here’s why the housing recovery hasn’t led to a hiring boom In recent months, economists have been puzzling over a bizarre fact about the recovery. The U.S. housing market is rebounding rapidly — the number of new units being built is up 28 percent over the past year. But construction jobs… Continue reading Housing
Bloomberg.com – Kill the 30-Year Mortgage After a devastating cycle of bubble and bust, the U.S. housing sector is on the road to recovery. New homes are being built at the fastest rate in years and prices are increasing across the country. Foreclosures are down and the number of “underwater” mortgages has declined by almost… Continue reading Is The End Of The 30-Year Mortgage Near?