<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – U.S. 30-Year Bond Losses Pass 5% as Fed Price Gauge Rises Treasury 30-year bond losses exceeded 5 percent in 2013 after the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation expectations approached 3 percent for the first time in more than a year. The Fed’s price indicator for the… Continue reading Is Inflation Becoming A Problem?
Project Syndicate – Kenneth Rogoff: Blaming the Fed Critics of the US Federal Reserve are having a field day with embarrassing revelations of its risk assessments on the eve of the financial crisis. By law, the Fed is required to publish the transcripts of its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings with a five-year lag.… Continue reading Blaming The Federal Reserve
The Guardian (UK) – Federal Reserve hacked US central bank confirms intrusion after hacktivist group Anonymous was claimed to have stolen 4,000 bankers’ details The US Federal Reserve bank has confirmed one of its internal websites was broken into by hackers after the hacktivist group Anonymous was claimed to have stolen details of more than… Continue reading The Federal Reserve Gets Hacked
MarketWatch.com – Home prices climb as fastest rate in 6 ½ years U.S. house prices in December were 8.3% higher than a year earlier, the strongest advance since May 2006, CoreLogic said Tuesday. But the data also show the considerable distance to go before the housing market reaches prerecession peaks. The December monthly price gain… Continue reading Home Prices On The Rise
Bloomberg Businessweek – Home Prices, Stock Rallies, and the Wealth of a Nation Citigroup (C) disagrees; its research says the stock market packs the disproportionate wealth-effect punch, especially where retail sales are concerned. Home equity only accounts for 10.5 percent of American household-sector wealth and never got much above 22 percent at the height of… Continue reading More On The Wealth Effect
The Financial Times – Print money to fund spending – Turner Lord Turner, the departing chairman of the Financial Services Authority has defended financing government spending by printing money arguing that, within limits, it “absolutely, definitively [does] not” lead to inflation. Speaking before a farewell speech in London on Wednesday, Lord Turner, who applied unsuccessfully… Continue reading Print More Money!
The Wall Street Journal – Some of the Carney Gloss Is Coming Off Mark Carney’s appearance on Thursday before a U.K. parliamentary committee promises to be an enthralling affair. The Bank of Canada Governor’s appointment to head the Bank of England was warmly welcomed by all strands of U.K. opinion in parliament, the press and… Continue reading Is Mark Carney’s Honeymoon Already Over?
The Atlantic – Currency Wars, What Are They Good For? Absolutely Ending Depressions Currency wars are the best type of wars. Nobody dies, and everybody can recover, as long as everybody plays along. Here’s how it works. One country devalues its currency — in other words, prints money — which, in a time of weak… Continue reading Currency Wars
<Click on chart for larger image> CNN – Why gas prices are rising It’s happening again. It’s not even close to the summer driving season — in fact, it’s not even springtime — but as surely as February gives way to March, gas prices have begun their annual assent. “There’s no shortage,” said Andrew Lebow,… Continue reading Rising Gas Prices
CNN – El-Erian: Perspective on Dow 14,000 Investors would be wise to temper their optimism with caution. As such, little is being done to counter a widening recession and improve a horrid unemployment situation, particularly among the young. Because of this widespread political dysfunction, we (in the West) are yet to evolve our credit-dependent growth… Continue reading Dow 14,000 And Beyond
The Wall Street Journal – U.S., States Plan to File Civil Charges Against S&P The Justice Department and state prosecutors intend to file civil charges alleging wrongdoing by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in its rating of mortgage bonds before the financial crisis erupted in 2008, according to people familiar with the matter. The allegations… Continue reading S&P Gets Sued, Why Now?