MarketWatch – So God made a banker To be read in the voice of Paul Harvey. And on the eighth day God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need someone who can flip this for a quick buck.” So God made a banker. God said, “I need someone who doesn’t grow anything… Continue reading Can Bankers Sell Trucks?
<Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Consumers Skid From Fiscal Cliff to Oil Slick Consumers are taking a wild ride this quarter, from peering over the fiscal cliff to skidding on an oil slick. The 18-cent jump in gasoline prices in the past week–the biggest weekly gain in almost… Continue reading Gas Prices On The Rise
<Click on chart for larger image> Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – U.S. Treasury Considers Ways to Extend Debt Maturity The U.S. Treasury and its Wall Street advisers are weighing steps to more rapidly extend the maturity of government debt, a development that could partially blunt the Federal Reserve‘s effort to lower long-term interest rates.… Continue reading U.S. Debt Maturity
Calculated Risk (Blog) – Update: Seasonal Pattern for House Prices There is a clear seasonal pattern for house prices. Even in normal times house prices tend to be stronger in the spring and early summer, than in the fall and winter. Recently there has been a stronger than normal seasonal pattern because conventional sales are… Continue reading Housing Seasonality
The Wall Street Journal – State Lawsuits Could Add to S&P Exposure Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services could face a much higher legal bill than the $5 billion sought by the federal government as more and more states join the battle against the credit-ratings firm. A raft of lawsuits this week from attorneys general from… Continue reading The Finger Pointing Continues In S&P Lawsuit
<Click on chart for larger image> Zero Hedge – The Two Scariest Words In Europe: “Silvio Berlusconi” The coincidental resurrection of Bunga Bunga boy Berlusconi, amid financial and political fraud allegations (and facts), appears to have struck fear into the heart of European investors. The Draghi ‘promise’ seems to be getting ready to be tested… Continue reading The More Attention Silvio Berlusconi Gets, The Worse Italian Stocks Do
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Weekly Mutual Fund Flows, No Rotation Retail Money Market Funds Retail Money Market Funds – 2 A Look At ETFs A Look At ETFs – 2 Prominent ETFs Stock and Bond Relationship An Earnings Update Total Returns Since January 1, 2010 An Updated Look The Budget… Continue reading Charts of the Week
<Click on chart for larger image> Comment The blue bars in the chart above shows the actual deficit while the red bars show the CBO’s latest forecast. <Click on chart for larger image> Comment The black lines above show the CBO’s forecast while the red, blue and green lines show actual results. The Wall Street… Continue reading An Updated Look At The Budget Deficit
The Wall Street Journal – Payback for a Downgrade? The feds sue S&P but not Moody’s for pre-crisis credit ratings. Now, this is awkward. One agency of the federal government is suing a company for fraud while another agency continues to endorse it. On Monday in Los Angeles, the Department of Justice sued Standard &… Continue reading More On The U.S. Lawsuit Against Standard & Poor’s
The Financial Times – Japan can put people before profits The key to a better-balanced economy is to take surplus profits away from a corporate oligopoly Will Shinzo Abe, Japan’s new prime minister, rescue his country’s economy from two decades of lassitude? Or has “Abenomics” launched a currency war and pushed Japan closer to hyperinflationary… Continue reading Japan
Bloomberg.com – Bernanke Warned of Risks From Flawed Credit Ratings Senior Federal Reserve officials including Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned in August 2007 that investor confidence in credit rating companies was fading, risking greater instability in financial markets. “There is an information fog” that “is very much associated with the loss of confidence in the… Continue reading What Did Bernanke Know About The Credit Ratings In 2007?