<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Companies in last-minute bond flurry Global corporations are attempting to raise this year’s final batch of funds at rock-bottom borrowing rates this week, taking no chances with the possible impact on US markets from the looming fiscal cliff… The… Continue reading Corporate Issuance
The Wall Street Journal – ADP: Superstorm Sandy Slows Job Growth Private-sector hiring slowed in November, in part because of superstorm Sandy, according to a report released Wednesday. Private-sector jobs in the U.S. increased 118,000 last month, according to a national employment report calculated by payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. ADP +1.01% and forecasting… Continue reading A Note On ADP
The Financial Times – Europe bond market set for holdout reform A revolution will unfold in Europe’s sovereign bond market next year when eurozone countries begin including contentious new clauses in their bonds that would compel “holdout” investors to take part in debt-restructuring deals. Collective action clauses, or CACs, which allow a large majority of… Continue reading Collective Action Clauses Coming To European Sovereign Bonds
The Wall Street Journal – Fund Managers Lift Results With Timely Trading Sprees A Wall Street Journal analysis of daily trading in roughly 10,000 stocks since 2004 found that on the final trading day of each quarter, there was a sharp increase in the number of stocks that beat the market by at least five… Continue reading Window Dressing
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<Click on chart for larger image> Zero Hedge – Guest Post: Have Tax Revenues Topped Out? Amidst all the “fiscal cliff” talk of raising tax rates, few dare to ask: have tax revenues topped out? How could tax revenues decline as rates go up? Easy: people modify their behavior in response to whatever incentives and… Continue reading Capital Gains Are The Reason Why Tax Receipts Are Down, Not Lower Rates
The Christian Science Monitor – Chevy Volt drivers top 100 million miles driven Friday evening, when perhaps not a lot of people were watching, a virtual odometer ticked over on the Chevy Volt website. At that hour–about 7 pm Eastern–it showed that Volt drivers had covered 100,000,000 miles on electricity in their range-extended electric cars.… Continue reading Miles Driven: Gas vs. Electric
Bloomberg.com – Muni Rally Approaches Limit With 47-Year Low Yields, Fabian Says The rally in the $3.7 trillion local- debt market that has driven yields to the lowest in more than four decades has probably run its course, said Municipal Market Advisors’ Matt Fabian. Since the U.S. presidential election Nov. 6, the yield on benchmark… Continue reading Muni Rally
<Click on chart for larger image> MarketWatch.com – Get ready to go over the fiscal cliff Commentary: Austerity is coming, even if cliff is avoided Agreement or not, 2013 will bring higher taxes and lower spending, so be prepared. As you know, current law dictates a humongous rise in taxes and a massive cut in… Continue reading Debt Ceiling Watch
<Click on chart for larger image> MarketWatch.com – With this volatility, is gold still a safe haven? Analysis: Gold prices have seen sharp drops in recent sessions Gold hasn’t been trading like a safe haven lately, leaving investors to wonder whether it still is one. “The volatility that the price of gold has seen lately… Continue reading Gold
Bloomberg.com – Banks Discover Money Management Again as Trading Declines Global banks, forced by regulators to reduce their dependence on profits from high-risk trading, have rediscovered the appeal of the mundane business of managing money for clients. Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) is now counting on the fund unit it failed to sell to help boost… Continue reading Banks Acting Like Banks Again
The Wall Street Journal – EU Banks to Repay Cheap Loans Nearly a year ago, hundreds of European banks borrowed a total of more than €1 trillion ($1.3 trillion) from the European Central Bank as it scrambled to defuse an escalating crisis. Today, in a sign of the industry’s partial healing, some of Europe’s biggest… Continue reading EU Banks Begin To Repay Some Loans