Reuters.com – Hype over ‘fiscal cliff’ may spawn drinking game The phrase “fiscal cliff” may not be ubiquitous yet, but some on Wall Street are saying they already feel a bit punch drunk whenever they hear someone talk about the looming threat of big tax hikes and sharp U.S. government budget cuts. “The term is… Continue reading The Fiscal Cliff Drinking Game
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Cox and Archer: Why $16 Trillion Only Hints at the True U.S. Debt As Washington wrestles with the roughly $600 billion “fiscal cliff” and the 2013 budget, the far greater fiscal challenge of the U.S. government’s unfunded pension and health-care liabilities remains offstage. The… Continue reading The U.S. Deficit
The Wall Street Journal – Greece’s Creditors Reach Aid Deal But Splits Linger Greece’s international creditors reached a deal to end an impasse over the country’s rescue program and unlock long-delayed loan payments, though the plan left officials with a host of challenges that could derail efforts to cut the government’s debt burden. Finance ministers… Continue reading Greece Is Saved…Again
<Click on chart for larger image> Alhambra Investment Partners – Repo Rates, Swap Spreads, And A More Distant Fed Exit Not only have repo rates struck an upward trend, there were noticeable spikes at quarter end (which is typical) and at the end of October. While temporary dealer positioning accounts for these, the fact that… Continue reading The Repo Market
Reuters.com – Why does the Fed chair need to be American? As far as I can tell, absolutely everybody thinks that Carney is the best possible person for the Bank of England job, and that it’s an absolute triumph for UK chancellor George Osborne that he managed to persuade Carney to change his mind and… Continue reading Looking Overseas For Bernanke’s Replacement
The Financial Times – GMO abandons bond market GMO, the Boston-based asset manager, says it has “given up” on the bond market, deciding to ditch long-dated sovereign debt as investors continue to pour billions into government bonds, including US Treasuries. Ben Inker, co-head of asset allocation for the $104bn group, told the Financial Times it… Continue reading Another Bond Bear
Bloomberg.com – Intrade Sued by U.S. Regulator Over Options Contracts The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued the operator of the Intrade website, alleging the company offered trading in options banned for U.S. customers in violation of securities laws and a previous agency order.From September 2007 to June, 25, 2012, Intrade continued to offer options… Continue reading Intrade In Hot Water
Wonkblog (Washington Post Blog) – Black Friday is a bunch of meaningless hype, in one chart When television news crews and newspaper writers go to cover the holiday crowds, they try to give the festivities some great economic import. Standard aspects of the genre include noting that holiday sales can account for about a third… Continue reading Ignore Black Friday Sales Numbers
The Wall Street Journal – Weak Revenue Is New Worry for Investors While corporate executives obsessively watch the bottom line, practitioners of the dismal science prefer to focus on the big picture. Lately some have found reason for concern in the part of companies’ public reports that is up top: sales. Do economists have their… Continue reading Weak Revenues Now The Worry
Reuters – U.S. ‘fiscal cliff’ talks stalled but progress possible U.S. lawmakers have made little progress in the past 10 days toward a compromise to avoid the harsh tax increases and government spending cuts scheduled for January 1, a senior Democratic senator said on Sunday. The United States is on course to slash its budget… Continue reading Fiscal Cliff Update, Nothing Is Happening