MarketWatch – Why do the Germans want their gold back? There’s something reassuring about physical money Where does Germany keep its gold reserves? It might sound like a silly question. In Germany, of course. Probably in a very deep vault somewhere in Frankfurt, surrounded by the best security systems that Teutonic technical brilliance can create.… Continue reading Germany Wants Its Gold Back
The Wall Street Journal – U.S. Comptroller Warns on Banks’ Loan-Loss Reserves The U.S. could stop banks from boosting their earnings by cutting back on reserves held against future loan losses, a top bank regulator said Monday, arguing that the economy remains too rocky for financial institutions to lower their cushions. Comptroller of the Currency… Continue reading Stopping U.S. Banks From Boosting Their Earnings
The Wall Street Journal – Behind Decision to Close Markets Superstorm Sandy forced regulators and exchange operators to keep U.S. stock markets closed Tuesday, in the first weather-related shutdown to last more than one day since the Blizzard of 1888. The decision to close the New York Stock Exchange and other U.S. equity markets for… Continue reading Sandy Takes Its Toll
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The Wall Street Journal – Fiscal Cliff Forces All Sides to Jockey Lawmakers, CEOs, business groups and charities are scrambling to shape the debate over tax and spending policy after the November elections, staking out negotiating positions for what could be a fast-paced brawl…The coming battle has prompted party leaders and various interest groups to… Continue reading The Fiscal Cliff
Bloomberg.com – A. Gary Shilling: Who Benefits From Keeping Interest Rates Low? Interest rates close to zero create deviations from the norm and produce a new set of relationships that few forecasters and policy makers fully understand. This low- or no-interest-rate world also has winners and losers. Let’s look at the beneficiaries. At a zero… Continue reading Investing In A Low Rate World
<Click on chart for larger image> Zero Hedge (Blog) – The Incredible Shrinking Half-Life Of Central Bank Action It seems the market – or the collection of pre-programmed heuristic biases that make up the equity investing public (and machines) – is slowly but surely realizing the confidence trick that is the Fed’s Quantitative Easing programs.… Continue reading QE Becomes More Ineffective In Each Iteration
The Wall Street Journal – Investors Play Lehman Claims Game When Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed in 2008, hedge funds, banks and investment managers with accounts at its London subsidiary lost access to billions of dollars of cash, assets and pending trades, and many still aren’t sure how much they will recover. Now, Wall Street… Continue reading Lehman IOUs
The Chicago Sun-Times – Chinese currency plays complex, crucial role in U.S. economy The Chinese currency has taken center stage in some of the economic policy debates leading up to the election. That is because of the perception that China is the source of all our jobs woes as their economy continues to grow at… Continue reading China
The Financial Times – David Rosenberg: When markets drive the economy, cash flow is king Until 2009, there was absolutely no correlation between the Fed’s balance sheet and the equity market. Now the correlation is at least as deep as it is with corporate earnings and the stock market. I am not convinced all this… Continue reading David Rosenberg Speaks
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – UPDATE: Labor Department ‘Working Hard’ to Ensure Jobs Report Released on Time The U.S. Labor Department on Monday said it is “working hard to ensure the timely release” of the October jobs report, saying it intends to released the report on schedule Friday despite Hurricane Sandy. “It is our… Continue reading The Jobs Report, Still On For Friday