The Wall Street Journal – Three Arrested in Libor Probe Three British men have been arrested as part of an investigation into the rigging of interest rates, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office said Tuesday. The SFO said the men, aged 33, 41 and 47, are being questioned at a London police station, and that it… Continue reading Banks Behaving Badly
The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: U.K.’s Top Banker Sees Currency Risk Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warned of the risk of currency wars in the coming year as nations search for new ways to spur their economies in a world of slow growth and few other good options. A cheap currency, in… Continue reading Bank of England
The Telegraph (UK) – Mario Monti’s exit is only way to save Italy Italy has only one serious economic problem. It is in the wrong currency. The nation is richer than Germany in per capita terms, with some €9 trillion of private wealth. It has the biggest primary budget surplus in the G7 bloc. Its… Continue reading Italy, Monti Leaves
The New York Times – Bloomberg Weighs Making Bid for The Financial Times Not long ago, The Financial Times would have been the crown jewel of any media company, instantly conferring prestige and influence on its owner. Now, given the likely bidders, one of the world’s most respected and distinctive financial newspapers could end up… Continue reading Bloomberg May Buy The Financial Times
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Comment On Friday we hosted a conference call titled The Fiscal Cliff And What To Expect In 2013. Please find the webcast, audio, and handout below. [hana-flv-player video=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/120712.flv” width=”600″ height=”495″ description=”” player=”3″ autoload=”false” autoplay=”false” loop=”false” autorewind=”true” splashimage=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/themes/twentyten/images/splash.jpg” /] Audio [audio:https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/SubscriberArea/503842-651847.mp3|titles=Conference Call] [pageview class=”PDFViewer” url=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/plugins/PDFViewer/plugin.php?id=104″] Jim Bianco was on CNBC on Friday afternoon discussing similar topics… Continue reading The Fiscal Cliff And What To Expect In 2013
The Wall Street Journal – Consumer Spending Wobbles U.S. consumer spending, a rare pillar of economic strength in recent months, is showing signs of weakening. American consumers helped carry the economy through a spring slowdown and appeared to power a summer resurgence in growth. But in recent weeks government data have shown spending was slower… Continue reading Consumers Confidence … Cliff or Stocks?
MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Charts of the Day: Trading Volume Slumps Across the Board The financial history books will remember 2012 as a year of abnormally low trading volume. Activity has slumped in stocks, ETFs, options and futures compared to a year ago, according to Credit Suisse CSGN.VX -0.88%. In particular, stocks and ETFs have… Continue reading Trading Volume Down In 2012
The Wall Street Journal – Banking Industry Squirms Over European Rate Probe The scandal over banks’ attempted manipulation of interest rates has mostly centered on the London interbank offered rate. But Libor’s lesser known cousin, the euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor, is facing mounting attacks. The European Union is expected soon to accuse multiple… Continue reading Euribor Following In LIBOR’s Footsteps
Bloomberg.com – If We Don’t Measure Leverage, We Risk More Crises You can’t control what you don’t measure…In the case of the economy, we might not be measuring everything we need to achieve control. For at least half a century, policy makers seeking to control inflation and unemployment have typically focused on managing interest rates.… Continue reading Measuring Leverage
The Wall Street Journal – Herding Cats at the Fed May Take Awhile Statements by some voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee in favor of an economic target for ending extraordinary stimulus won’t transform those monetary cluster munitions into sniper rifles. But at least they would give the market a better idea of… Continue reading Central Bank Policies