Reuters – Big inflows continue into U.S.-based stock mutual funds -Lipper Investors in U.S.-based funds pumped $3.75 billion into stock mutual funds in the latest week, a continuation of the prior week’s massive inflow and suggesting a trend of retail investors putting money back to work in the stock market, data from Thomson Reuters’ Lipper… Continue reading Mutual Fund Flows – No Rotation Into Stocks!
The Telegraph (UK) – Bank of America issues `bond crash’ alert on Fed tightening fears The return of confidence and healthy growth in the US risks setting off a “bond crash” comparable to 1994 and triggering a string of upsets across the world, Bank of America has warned. The US lender said investors face a… Continue reading More Bond Market Hate
International Business Times – US Initial Jobless Claims Fall To 5-Year Low, Likely On Seasonal Swings Fewer Americans than forecast lined up for new jobless benefits last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday, though the number may have been distorted by seasonal factors. Claims tend to be volatile at the start of the year.… Continue reading Initial Claims Seasonal Adjustments
Business Insider – SHILLER: All This Housing Optimism Is Way Too Premature Blodget: So what is your sense of the next five years? Do you think we’ve hit bottom in the housing market or do you have to stratify it that way? Shiller: I think that we might have [hit bottom], but my biggest sense… Continue reading Differing Views On Housing
The Economist – The Fed’s profits: The other side of QE What happens when the Fed starts losing money Some Fed officials worry about what comes next. When the Fed raised rates in the past, it meant little for profits because reserves were trivial and earned no interest. Since 2008 the Fed has paid interest… Continue reading Can The Federal Reserve Lose Money?
The Globe & Mail (Canada) – Is a currency war brewing? Talk of stick-it-to-your-neigbour currency wars has intensified dramatically in recent days as a growing number of central banks pursue policies to revive flagging economies that directly affect the value of their currencies. The question is whether this is just a lot of smoke or… Continue reading Currency Wars
The Financial Times – Britain slides back towards recession Britain’s economy shrank 0.3 per cent in the final quarter of last year, bringing it closer to a possible “triple-dip” recession and piling pressure on the coalition government. Chancellor George Osborne, whose austerity programme has come under increasing criticism as the economy has faltered, said he… Continue reading UK Recession
The Wall Street Journal – Pensions Bet Big With Private Equity It is a sign of the times. Numerous pension funds are still struggling to make up investment losses from the financial crisis. Rather than reduce risks in the wake of those declines, many are getting aggressive. They are loading up on private equity and… Continue reading Pension Funds
<Click on chart for larger image> MSN/Money – Chicken wing prices take flight Wings will hit their highest demand of the year on Super Bowl Sunday — and their highest price on record. Americans will eat 12.3 million fewer chicken wings this Super Bowl Sunday than they did last year — not because wings are… Continue reading Dr. Chicken, The Bird With A PhD In Predicting Superbowl Ratings
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Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC yesterday discussing earnings and FOMC policy. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. The Wall Street Journal – A Rally Built Atop Surprises, Mostly Bad Last week, Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. turned in year-end financial… Continue reading Earnings
<Click on chart for larger image> Reuters – The Great Rotation: a flight to equities in 2013 One of the big investment shifts of our day may be at hand – regardless of how global markets actually perform this year. What’s already known as the “The Great Rotation” – a tilting of pension and insurance… Continue reading Mutual Fund Flows