The New York Times – Frankenstein Takes Over the Market This week, yet another Wall Street firm most people have never heard of, relying on a computerized trading program that they can’t possibly understand, shook investors’ faith in the market. This is happening a little too frequently, don’t you think? The company, of course, was… Continue reading Computers Are Taking Over Wall Street
The Wall Street Journal – Italian’s Job: Premier Talks Tough in Bid to Save Euro During an all-night European summit in June, Mario Monti, the Italian prime minister, gave German Chancellor Angela Merkel an unexpected ultimatum: He would block all deals until she agreed to take action against Italy’s and Spain’s rising borrowing costs. Ms.… Continue reading Saving The EU
The Wall Street Journal – Using Postal Service to Gauge Government Efficiency Scratching their collective heads a few years ago for a way to measure and explain why some governments are more efficient than others, four economists came up with an unusual idea: Between December 2010 and February 2011, they mailed letters to nonexistent business… Continue reading Measuring Government Efficiency
The Financial Times – Cash out of gold and send kids to college Just like the non-barking dog in the Sherlock Holmes story, the gold price has become strangely insensitive to the usual stimuli. The eurozone remains locked in an existential crisis. Growth is fading in the US and China, and policy makers appear conflicted… Continue reading Gold
Bloomberg Businessweek – Bernanke Says Economic Data May Mask Individual Suffering Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said gauges of the U.S. economy’s strength may fail to measure the suffering of individual citizens. “Even though some key aggregate metrics — including consumer spending, disposable income, household net worth, and debt service payments — have moved… Continue reading Forget Inflation Targets, Bernanke Is Worried About Your Well-Being
None Today
The Financial Times – Bill Gross: Draghi and friends just want your money Psst! Investors – do you wanna know a secret? Do you wanna know what Angela Merkel, François Hollande, Christine Lagarde and Mario Draghi all share in common? They want your money! They’ve wanted it for years now but you are resisting by… Continue reading All About Europe
Reuters.com – Spain inches towards a full EU bailout Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy inched closer on Friday to asking for an EU bailout for his country, but said he needed first to know what conditions would be attached and what form the rescue would take. His comments, at his first post-cabinet meeting news conference… Continue reading Spain
Reuters.com – ECB saves Greece from bankruptcy by securing emergency loans-paper The European Central Bank (ECB) has saved Greece from bankruptcy for the time being by securing it interim financing in the form of additional emergency loans from the Bank of Greece, German newspaper Die Welt said on Saturday.The ECB’s Governing Council agreed at its… Continue reading Greece Is Saved By The ECB
The Wall Street Journal – ‘Macro’ Funds Show Micro Returns Many so-called macro fund managers—investors who bet on big economic trends and policy decisions—had predicted a scenario where central banks become increasingly ineffective and developed economies remain weighed down by debt. But even those who made the correct calls are finding it nearly impossible to… Continue reading Hedge Fund Performance
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Four-year silver probe set to be dropped A four-year investigation into the possible manipulation of the the silver market looks increasingly likely to be dropped after US regulators failed to find enough evidence to support a legal case, according to three people familiar with the… Continue reading Manipulation In The Silver Market
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – One Year Later, What U.S. Downgrade? One year ago, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services stripped the U.S. of its triple-A debt rating. Since then, demand for Treasury securities has only grown. Sunday marked the one-year anniversary of S&P’s downgrade of long-term U.S. debt to… Continue reading The U.S. Downgrade, One Year Later