<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Minting Coins Cost U.S. Taxpayers $436 Million Pennies and nickels have cost more than their face value to mint since 2006, resulting in a loss of at least $436 million to U.S. taxpayers. The CHART OF THE DAY shows that in… Continue reading The Value Of A Penny
<Click on chart for larger image> MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – High Pump Prices Are the New Normal Will Wednesday’s sharp correction in the price of crude oil filter through to the pump? Prices at U.S. gas stations climbed for 32 consecutive days to Monday, as refinery shutdowns worked to counter the glut of available crude,… Continue reading Prices At The Pump
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Fed to Test Using Smaller Broker-Dealers as Counterparties The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it will test allowing “small broker-dealers” to act as counterparties in sales and purchases of Treasuries for the central bank’s portfolio. The New York Fed will conduct a one-year pilot program… Continue reading The Primary Dealers Have New Competition
The Financial Times – Intrade traffic plummets after CFTC action The number of people using Intrade has plummeted since a US government crackdown late last year, calling into doubt the online prediction market’s powers to divine the wisdom of crowds on matters ranging from election results to the stock market. Unique visitors to the site… Continue reading Questioning Intrade’s Predictive Power
Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: A Better Sequester Would Make Less of a Mess The once-delayed, long-dreaded $85 billion sequester is about to become reality. How do I know? Because President Barack Obama is taking his case, and scare tactics, to the people. Unless Congress acts to avert this year’s across-the-board cuts largely to discretionary spending,… Continue reading The Sequester
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Conference Call Presentation/Charts of the Week Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/503842-670235.mp3|titles=Conference Call] Topics Covered This Week Include: What Is Expected For The Economy? The Trend In Economic Surprises Inflation Expectations – TIPS Market Inflation Expectations – Philly Fed Survey Mutual Funds, Domestic Equity Flows Continue To Slow Earnings Outlook – Poor Now, Hope Later Revenue Outlook – Going… Continue reading Conference Call Presentation/Charts of the Week
Comment On February 21, 2013 at 9 AM CT (10:00 AM ET, 7:00 AM PT, and 15:00 GMT), Bianco Research, in conjunction with Arbor Research & Trading, will be hosting a webcast/teleconference moderated by Jim Bianco. Join us Thursday as we discuss the potential for new all-time highs in U.S. equities, the outlook for interest… Continue reading On New Highs And Interest Rates
TheReformedBroker.com (Blog) – 92% of All ETF Inflows Year-To-Date Go To Stocks (but don’t use the R word) The market strategists at ConvergEx Group take a look at YTD ETF inflows at the halfway mark through Q1. And while I don’t want to upset everyone who screamed that “it’s not a rotation!” til they were… Continue reading The Great Rotation
The Washington Post – Janet Yellen explains our crummy recovery in three charts Yellen has been among the members of the Fed pushing the central bank to do more to alleviate unemployment. And so she ends her speech by defending her underlying view that “a broad-based cyclical shortage of demand is the main cause of… Continue reading Janet Yellen Explains Our Economy
Investment News – Finra bond warning a real worrier Regulator’s caution speaks volumes about bleak prospects for debt investors Finra may be late to the party, but its warning to investors about the risks in bonds is still timely, advisers said. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. told investors in an alert Thursday that in… Continue reading Now Regulators Are Bearish Bonds!
The Financial Times – Call for money market reforms An overhaul of rules governing money market funds is being promoted by a European body created after the collapse of Lehman Brothers to monitor risks in the region’s financial system. The European Systemic Risk Board, a panel comprising central bank governors and regulators from across the… Continue reading Money Market Reform