The Financial Times – Martin Wolf: America’s fiscal policy is not in crisis The urgent challenge is to promote economic recovery The US confronts huge challenges, at home and abroad. Its fiscal position is not one of them. This is a highly controversial statement. If one judged by the debate in Washington, one would conclude… Continue reading Stop Worrying About The Deficit
DJIndexes.com – 2013 Weights for the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Announced by S&P Dow Jones Indices and UBS Investment Bank S&P Dow Jones Indices and UBS Investment Bank announced today new target weightings for the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index and the addition of the Hard Red Winter Wheat and Soybean Meal futures contracts as new… Continue reading Swap Dealers Respond To Commodity Index Changes
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Firms Keep Stockpiles of ‘Foreign’ Cash in U.S. Companies say the U.S. corporate tax rate is so high that it doesn’t make financial sense to bring more cash back than necessary. Even if much of the money already is here and available to be… Continue reading ‘Foreign’ Cash On The Sidelines
Zero Hedge – This Is What 1,230 Days (And Counting) Of Explicit Market Support By The Federal Reserve Looks Like The day Lehman failed saw the launch of the most epic central bank intervention in history with the Fed guaranteeing and funding trillions worth of suddenly underwater capital. However, what Bernanke realized quickly, is that… Continue reading Market Support From The Federal Reserve
Watch The Untouchables on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE. PBS Frontline – The Untouchables In The Untouchables, FRONTLINE producer and correspondent Martin Smith investigates why the U.S. Department of Justice has failed to act on credible evidence that Wall Street knowingly packaged and sold toxic mortgage loans to investors, loans that brought the U.S. and… Continue reading Too Big To Jail
Bloomberg Businessweek – The Market’s Unrelenting Cheer Makes Some Nervous For one thing, volatility is at its lowest reading since June 2007, the month that a pair of Bear Stearns hedge funds blew up, sending shock waves across Wall Street. By at least one composite measure, aversion to risk is presently at a three-decade low.… Continue reading Minsky Moments
Globe And Mail – Q&A: Gary Shilling on why the latest rush into stocks will end miserably Right now we’re in what I call the grand disconnect. The economies of the world are growing slowly, if at all. The euro zone is in recession, the U.K. is in recession, Japan is in recession, China’s growth… Continue reading Doom And Gloom
CNBC – New Housing Fears: Home Prices Are Rising Too Fast “The greatest concern in the market is the inventory situation,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. “Even if we see an increase in the Spring and Summer, if home sales hold at the [current] level or even a 5 to 6-month supply,… Continue reading Home Prices Are Rising Too Fast!
The Financial Times – Global economy set for ‘slow recovery’ The world economy appears set to emerge slowly from its hangover after the financial crisis but momentum on policy reform must not cease, economic experts attending the World Economic Forum in Davos will tell business leaders this week. Economists sense that the risks to recovery… Continue reading Global Economy Recovering Slowly
The Wall Street Journal – QE’s Impact Defying Logic In the currency markets, quantitative easing hasn’t been the sure bet that it is often made out to be. Just about every time a major central bank has cranked up a new effort to boost economic activity by flooding financial markets with freshly minted money, the… Continue reading QE’s Impact On The Dollar
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Gold: Don’t Go With the Flow Your average investor in commodities had a lousy 2012. And while gold prices rose more than most, gold buyers may still have done badly. Looking across a range of indexes, Deutsche Bank DBK.XE finds commodities ranked worst, eking… Continue reading Investing In Gold