Business Insider – LIBOR EXPERT: The Fed Has Destroyed LIBOR The chief strategist of a firm that specializes in brokering deals on Eurodollar futures contracts told Business Insider that blaming bankers for manipulating LIBOR misses what’s really happening in money markets; LIBOR is still being distorted, and on an official basis. That’s why, he argued,… Continue reading The LIBOR Blame Game
The Globe & Mail – Banking suffers another blow as scandals pile up The sequel to the financial crisis is under way, and there are no prizes for guessing who has been cast in the role of villain. It has been a very bad few weeks for banking. The walk of shame has included employees… Continue reading Banking Scandals
The Financial Times – Gillian Tett: We have entered the world of disaster economics Are the bond markets going mad? It is a question that many investors might ask. For as anxiety has erupted in the eurozone, something striking has occurred with respect to US Treasuries and German Bunds. If you look at the credit… Continue reading Safe Havens
CNBC – Europe: The ECB Will Be Forced In I said earlier we are in a “doom loop”: if Spain is forced into asking for a full bailout, Italy will be in play. That means the chances for a full-scale euro breakup (forget about Greece) increase dramatically. The logic is fairly simple: The economies of… Continue reading All Roads Lead To An ECB Bailout
The New York Times – Wall Street Is Too Big to Regulate THE Barclays interest-rate scandal, HSBC’s openness to money laundering by Mexican drug traffickers, the epic blunders at JPMorgan Chase — at this point, four years after Wall Street wrecked the global economy, does anyone really believe we can regulate the big banks? And… Continue reading Too Big To Regulate
Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC Friday talking about earnings/revenues and the markets. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. Jim Bianco: Since the end of the great recession in 2009, on average 79% of companies beat estimates. So far 120 companies reported and… Continue reading Is Revenue Growth Signalling A Recession?
The Wall Street Journal – Alan Blinder: How Bernanke Can Get Banks Lending Again If the Fed reduces the reward for holding excess reserves, banks will have to find something else to do with their money, like making loans or putting it in the capital markets Fortunately, there is more the Fed can do. I… Continue reading Should The Federal Reserve Cut Interest Rates To Zero?
Reuters – ECB’s Draghi says euro not in danger The euro zone is not in danger of breaking up despite some analysts’ worse case scenarios, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said, judging that the bloc was inevitably marching towards closer union among its members. Asked in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde if… Continue reading If You Have To Ask The Question …
The Associated Press – Italian market watchdog bans short-selling of stocks as Milan market plunges Italy’s financial markets watchdog on Monday imposed a ban on the short-selling of shares as the Milan stock index plunged amid fears over the country’s financial stability. Consob said on its web site that the ban would apply for the… Continue reading When Finance Ministers Are Completely Out Of Ideas …
The New York Times – Editorial: A Week in the Life of Libor The Justice Department is now expected to file criminal charges this year against at least one big bank in connection with the rate-rigging scandal, while building cases against other banks and their employees. This is welcome news: prosecuting financial crimes is essential… Continue reading LIBOR
The New York Times – The Long-Term Argument for Dow 20,000 AFTER the last several years, you don’t need a finance course to know that stocks are risky. If you’ve looked at the fluctuating value of your own stock portfolio, you already have a visceral understanding of market volatility. These violent ups and downs provide… Continue reading A Long-Term Bullish Case