The New York Times – Debt Ceiling Rises Again as Threat for the U.S. The three major ratings agencies shrugged off this week’s breakdown in talks aimed at ending the fiscal impasse in Washington by Jan. 1, saying their outlook for America’s sovereign debt was already negative and would not immediately change. But officials of… Continue reading The Debt Ceiling And US Credit Ratings
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The Wall Street Journal – Boehner’s Budget ‘Plan B’ Collapses House Speaker John Boehner, facing a rebellion in his party’s conservative ranks, abandoned his own plan to avert tax increases for most Americans Thursday night, throwing Washington’s high-stakes budget negotiations into disarray and bringing the prospect of tumbling over the fiscal cliff into sudden focus.… Continue reading Over The Cliff
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Money Funds Brace for Flood BlackRock Inc. and Federated Investors Inc. might bolt the door to shield their funds from a torrent of money that is expected to flood out of U.S. banks when a federal guarantee lapses on roughly $1.7 trillion in bank… Continue reading Will Money Market Funds See Huge Inflows After The End Of Some FDIC Guarantees?
BusinessWeek – In a World Full of Risk, Why Are Investors So Calm? The economy and markets of 2012 sport nearly as many risk factors as a Cialis ad: Four years into full monetary tilt, does the Federal Reserve much know what it’s doing, and should we grow to expect QE6? Can a recessionary, politically… Continue reading Markets See No Risk?
Reuters.com – Fed rejects idea of consensus forecasts, “maybe forever”: Fisher The U.S. Federal Reserve, which last week for the first time adopted specific economic guideposts to help shape expectations for how long rates will stay low, has for now dropped the idea of coming up with a collective forecast for the economy. Fed policymakers… Continue reading No Consensus At The Federal Reserve, Just 19 Different Opinions Averaged
The Economist – Investing: Rich managers, poor clients Investors have paid too much for hedge-fund expertise. Better to focus on low costs than star fund managers THE masters of the universe have been humbled. Over the past ten years, hedge-fund managers have underperformed not just the stockmarket, but inflation as well. After fees, investors in… Continue reading Hedge Funds Do Poorly
The Financial Times – GDP growth revised down to 0.9% The economy grew by slightly less than thought in the third quarter, according to official data released on Friday. However, figures for the UK’s dominant services sector signalled the economy could avoid a contraction in the final three months of 2012, as many have feared.… Continue reading UK Economy Struggles
The Financial Times – Foreign holdings of JGBs hit record Foreign ownership of Japanese government bonds has risen to a record Y86tn ($1tn), or just over 9 per cent of the total outstanding, underscoring the view among crisis-rattled investors that the country’s relative stability outweighs the risks posed by its vast public debt. Foreign Japanese… Continue reading Foreigners Like JGBs
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Comment Yesterday Jim was on CNBC discussing the fiscal cliff. Jim’s portion starts after several minutes of comments from Nancy Pelosi. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. Since the election we have argued there would be no deal on the fiscal cliff. From… Continue reading Why We Will Get No Deal And Go Over The Fiscal Cliff
Bloomberg.com – Fed’s $4 Trillion Rescue Helps Hedge Fund as Savers Hurt Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to energize the U.S. economy since 2008 have been credited with rousing the housing market from a six-year funk, lowering the jobless rate and putting more money in the pockets of both mortgage lenders and borrowers. At the… Continue reading The Federal Reserve’s Role & Hedge Funds