The Financial Times – Desperately seeking a line in safe assets As if the world’s central bankers did not have enough to do already. With the global economy still badly scarred by successive financial crises, another job is falling to today’s masters of the universe: ensuring there are sufficient “safe assets” to keep the financial… Continue reading Searching For A Safe Haven
Bearish News (blog) – Raw Footage of Jim Grant’s Interview from ‘The Bubble’ 35:17 of Jim Grant commenting on a wide variety of topics for the movie “the bubble.”
The New York Times – A Bold Dissenter at the Fed, Hoping His Doubts Are Wrong But for the last several years, Mr. Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, has warned repeatedly that the central bank’s extraordinary efforts to stimulate growth are ineffective and inappropriate and, worst of all, that the Fed… Continue reading Lacker Doubts Federal Reserve Policy
<Click on chart for larger image> CNBC – Why VIX’s Recent Plunge May Be Bad for Stocks While the overheated VIX selling of last week is causing some anticipation of a near-term stock market pullback, it is not affecting annual forecasts. A market drop “would present another entry point, and we would see pullbacks from… Continue reading Is The Drop In The VIX Bad For Stocks?
Bloomberg.com – Why Austerity Works and Stimulus Doesn’t Now, however, the IMF complains that Latvia has cut social spending too much. Unemployment remains the main concern, but it has fallen substantially from 20.7 percent in early 2010 to 13.5 percent in the fall of 2012. Latvia is undergoing a major structural change, as an oversized… Continue reading Austerity vs Stimulus
Reuters.com – Special Report: How Mario Draghi is reshaping Europe’s central bank Under a landmark deal last month, the ECB will have new powers from 2014 that will give it automatic oversight of around 150 of the biggest banks in the euro zone, and the authority to intervene in the 6,000-odd smaller banks if there… Continue reading The Reshaping Of The ECB
MarketWatch.com – Don’t ignore the other Europe, the growing one A debt crisis that seems to go on without end. A currency in turmoil. A deepening recession, a banking crisis, and states that may split up. Investors hardly need much persuasion to stay away from Europe. If they want safety and stability they can park… Continue reading The Booming Side Of Europe
The Financial Times – Junk bonds: from high yield to historic lows US yields have fallen below 6% for the first time So much for “high yield.” The euphemism for junk bonds is looking like a misnomer. US yields have been setting historic lows for a few years, and have now fallen below 6 per… Continue reading Junk Bonds
The Wall Street Journal – Button-Down Central Bank Bets It All Switzerland, for decades a paragon of safety in finance, is engaged in a high-risk strategy to protect its export-driven economy, literally betting the bank in a fight to contain the prices of Swiss products sold abroad. The nation’s central bank is printing and selling… Continue reading Switzerland
The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive Zero Hedge (blog) – Bank Of America On The “Trillion Dollar Tooth Fairy” Straight “From The Land Of Fiscal Make Believe” Ethan Harris from Bank of America (a firm that would be significantly impaired if America was forced to suddenly live… Continue reading Cartoons
The Financial Times – Equities slip as focus turn to earnings There is also fretting that the upcoming US fourth-quarter company reporting season – to be kicked off by Alcoa, the aluminium producer, later on Tuesday – may disappoint, despite a paring back of profit expectations over recent months. According to Reuters data, analysts last… Continue reading Q4 Earnings Season Starts Today
<Click on chart for larger image> The Washington Post – U.S. may default on its debt half a month earlier than expected, new analysis shows The U.S. government may default on its debt as soon as Feb. 15, half a month earlier than widely expected, according to a new analysis adding urgency to the debate… Continue reading Debt Ceiling “End Date” Moved Up To February 15?