The New York Times – Recovery in U.S. Is Lifting Profits, but Not Adding Jobs With the Dow Jones industrial average flirting with a record high, the split between American workers and the companies that employ them is widening and could worsen in the next few months as federal budget cuts take hold. That gulf… Continue reading Profits & Jobs
Reuters – Goldman trims risk-taking to lowest level in 7 years Goldman Sachs Group Inc reduced its risk-taking for a third straight year, with potential losses from trading positions dropping to the lowest level in seven years, reflecting a more cautious stance towards markets. The Wall Street bank’s average daily value at risk last year… Continue reading Goldman Grows More Cautious
Yahoo Finance – BOJ nominee Kuroda sets out aggressive policy ideas The Japan government’s nominee to be the next central bank governor outlined more forceful policy prescriptions on Monday to finally defeat deflation, saying he would not set any limits on the amount of cash the Bank of Japan pumps into the economy. Underlining expectations… Continue reading The BOJ Wants To Put The Pedal To The Metal
Bloomberg.com – China Reserves Ample to Buy World’s Gold Twice China’s foreign currency reserves, which have surged more than 700 percent since 2004, are enough to buy every central bank’s official gold supply — twice. The CHART OF THE DAY shows how China’s foreign reserves surpassed the value of all official bullion holdings in January… Continue reading Chinese Currency Reserves
The New York Times – Globalization, Measured by Investment, Takes a Step Backward A FEW years ago, capital was flying around the globe faster than it ever had. The world economy became more tightly integrated, and technology contributed to making it easier for banks and investors to deploy their money on the other side of… Continue reading Globalization
Bloomberg.com – China’s Stocks Slump as Developers Tumble Most Since June 2008 China’s stocks fell, led by the biggest slump among developers since 2008, after the Cabinet called for more measures to cool property prices and after growth in the nation’s services industries slowed. The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) slid 2.6 percent, the most since… Continue reading Chinese Housing
Vanity Fair – Billionaire Bill Ackman’s Ill-Fated Bike Ride: “His Mind Wrote a Check That His Body Couldn’t Cash” Ackman says he suspected, when he “shorted” (i.e., bet against) Herbalife, that other hedge-fund investors would likely see the move as an opportunity to make money by taking the other side of his bet. What he… Continue reading Vanity Fair Unloads On Bill Ackman
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Bloomberg.com – Gold Little Changed After Fifth Monthly Drop on Global Economy Gold ETPs fell for an eighth day to 2,502.75 metric tons yesterday, the lowest since September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded product backed by the metal, fell to the lowest since August. The… Continue reading The Largest Gold ETF Liquidation In History
The Economist – Waiting for the chop The economy has survived austerity thus far this year thanks to housing, but the “sequester” could change that WHEN Barack Obama and the Republicans in Congress agreed on January 1st to let a payroll tax cut expire and tax rates rise on the rich, they rolled the dice… Continue reading Austerity In The U.S.
Zero Hedge (blog) – The Recent FOMC Minutes Should Anger Every Investor Submitted by Vedran Vuk of Casey Research, As promised, here are a few quotes that might make your blood boil. If you read through the minutes quickly, they seem benign, but if you stop to think about them, they’re infuriating. Here’s the first:… Continue reading Parsing The FOMC Minutes
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Bursting Debt Bubble Washington takes over the student-loan market. Delinquencies soar On Thursday the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that a staggering 35% of student-loan borrowers under 30 were at least 90 days late on their payments at the end of 2012,… Continue reading Student Loans … A Bursting Bubble?