The Wall Street Journal – Energy Stokes Inflation in Developed Economies The annual rate of inflation across developed economies rose for the first time in a year in August, driven by a sharp rise in energy prices, a development that may narrow the scope for leading central banks to shore up faltering growth through additional… Continue reading Rising World Inflation
Bloomberg.com – No Joy on Wall Street as Biggest Banks Earn $63 Billion Four years ago today, President George W. Bush signed into law the biggest corporate rescue in American history. Even as U.S. unemployment has remained above 8 percent for 43 months, the country’s biggest banks are making almost as much as they ever… Continue reading Bank Profits
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The Wall Street Journal – Bernanke Takes On Critics of Fed Policy Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke pushed back against criticism that the central bank’s low-interest-rate policies are enabling bad fiscal policy in Washington, saying the Fed’s approach could help shrink the federal budget deficit over time. Some Republican lawmakers and foreign government officials say… Continue reading Bernanke Attempts To Defend His Honor
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Banks reap profits on mortgages after QE3 Bank profits from new mortgages have soared since the Federal Reserve began its third round of bond purchases two weeks ago, fuelling the debate over the fallout of the latest dose of quantitative easing. The extent to which… Continue reading Mortgage Rates In The Wake Of QE3
Bloomberg.com – World Bank Says 600 Million New Jobs Needed Over 15 Years The global economy will need to have created 600 million new jobs between 2005 and 2020 to absorb young people entering the work force, spur development, empower women and prevent unrest, the World Bank said. In its World Development Report released yesterday,… Continue reading The Jobs Market
The Wall Street Journal – Earnings Wizardry If you believe a recent academic study, one out of five U.S. finance chiefs have been scrambling to fiddle with their companies’ earnings. Not Enron-style, fraudulent fiddles, mind you. More like clever—and legal—exploitations of accounting standards that “manage earnings to misrepresent [the company’s] economic performance,” according to the… Continue reading Earnings
<Click on graphic to register> Tentative Schedule 8:00 Registration and Breakfast in the Atrium 8:30 Introductions 8:45 Neil Barosfsky Bailout 9:30 Dylan Grice in conversation with Rich Yamarone A Great Disorder Comes 10:15 –break– 10:30 James O’Shaugnessy What Works on Wall Street 11:15 Barry Ritholtz 12:00 Lunch sponsored by TD Ameritrade served in the Atrium… Continue reading The Big Picture Conference – October 10
Bloomberg.com – Spanish Banks Need More Capital Than Tests Find, Moody’s Says Spain’s banks face a capital shortfall that could climb to 105 billion euros ($135 billion), almost double the estimate the government provided last week, according to Moody’s Investors Service. The nation’s lenders may need infusions of 70 billion euros to 105 billion euros… Continue reading Spain’s Stress Tests Get A Second Opinion
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Middle-Skill Jobs Are Lagging The notion that technology is an enemy to many types of middle-class jobs isn’t novel…A report released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York puts some numbers behind the evolution of the work force. The report found that from 1980 until 2010, job… Continue reading More Evidence Of A Disappearing Middle Class?
The Financial Times – Enforcement of Basel III should be focus We’re now two years into Basel III, which imposes tougher capital requirements on banks around the world. After fraught negotiations, the major global economies signed up to it. But some officials seem to have buyers’ remorse. Two respected regulators – Andy Haldane of the… Continue reading Basel III
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Securitisation – back on the menu Wall Street is once again slicing and dicing loans and packaging them into securities. While still far below boomtime levels, issuance of debt backed by credit card receivables, for example, totals more than $30bn year to date, up from… Continue reading Securitization