The New York Times – Senators to Return With 5 Days Left and No Clear Fiscal Path With just five days left to make a deal, President Obama and members of the Senate were set to return to Washington on Thursday with no clear path out of their fiscal morass even as the Treasury Department… Continue reading No Fiscal Cliff Deal This Week
Bloomberg.com – Plan to Limit Fed’s Mandate Is Folly It seems unlikely, however, that the bill would accomplish what its supporters want, and it comes with a serious political downside for Republicans who embrace it. It’s not clear, first of all, that the Fed’s current mandate has distorted its behavior in the ways Brady thinks.… Continue reading Limit The Federal Reserve?
The New York Times – Perfect 10? Never Mind That. Ask Her for Her Credit Score. The credit score, once a little-known metric derived from a complex formula that incorporates outstanding debt and payment histories, has become an increasingly important number used to bestow credit, determine housing and even distinguish between job candidates. It’s so… Continue reading Credit Scores
The Economist – Hedge funds: Going nowhere fast Hedge funds have had another lousy year, to cap a disappointing decade WHEN it comes to brainboxes, the name “Nobel” has a certain ring. But news that the Nobel Foundation plans to increase its investment in hedge funds, because years of low returns forced it to cut… Continue reading Hedge Funds’ Lousy Year
Reuters – U.S. retailers scramble after lackluster holiday sales The 2012 holiday season may have been the worst for retailers since the 2008 financial crisis, with sales growth far below expectations, forcing many to offer massive post-Christmas discounts in hopes of shedding excess inventory. While chains like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Gap Inc are thought… Continue reading The Tiresome Holiday Sales Forecast Pattern
Bloomberg.com – Cement Magnate’s Son Aso Takes Reins of Japanese Economy Taro Aso, son of a cement magnate and a champion of pork-barrel spending when prime minister, became Japan’s sixth finance chief in three years, auguring expanded fiscal stimulus in the world’s third-largest economy. Aso, 72, will also serve as deputy prime minister and financial… Continue reading Japan
Charts of the Week This week we assembled a collection of over 70 of our favorite long-term charts. Please enjoy. Topics Covered This Week Include: Long Term Interest Rates Back To 1790 Short Term Interest Rates Back to 1831 Long Term and Short Term Interest Rates Back to 1831 “Real” Long Term Interest Rates Back… Continue reading Charts of the Week
Business Insider – The Era Of ‘Macro’ May Finally Be Coming To An End As 2012 closes out, there’s evidence that the age of macro may be coming to an end for now.In BofA’s “Contrarian thoughts” for 2012, Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett writes: One of the biggest surprises this year was the bear market… Continue reading Is The “Macro World” Ending?
The Wall Street Journal – Budget Talks Cloud Outlook Hopes Dim for a Big Deal on Fiscal Cliff, Prolonging Uncertainty for Economy Washington’s budget gridlock is unsettling consumers and businesses, raising the risks that economic growth would be hurt next year no matter what Congress does in the coming days. Lawmakers returning to town this… Continue reading The Fiscal Cliff
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – ‘Shadow’ Overhyped as Housing Threat It’s been a hard year to be a housing bear. U.S. housing markets finally came alive in 2012, with home sales and housing starts up strongly. And prices are on track to end the year in positive territory for… Continue reading Housing
The Financial Times – Municipal bonds – and so to bedrock The bedrock of the US municipal bond market is taxes, or rather exemption from them. The interest income from the bonds is exempt from federal taxes, and often from taxes in the state or locality where they are issued. Markets adjust for this. Average… Continue reading Munis