The Wall Street Journal – How J.P. Morgan Might Tame the Whale Harvesting such gains raises issues, however. It may be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul; the bank likely would sell higher-yielding securities only to replace them with lower yielding ones. That could drag on the portfolio’s average 2.6% yield and the… Continue reading J.P. Morgan
MarketWatch.com – Four fiscal cliffs ahead, and a jobs war – The health-care cliff: Admit it, it’s a systemic failure. And repealing or tweaking Obamacare won’t stop the hemorrhaging. Costs will keep rising, no matter who’s chief. – The taxes/spending cliff: The CBO says that allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire, combined with agreed-upon… Continue reading The U.S. Economy
Bloomberg.com – Fed Harms Itself by Missing Goals Ben S. Bernanke has made transparency one of the defining themes of his time at the helm of the Federal Reserve. The virtue of this transparency is that it’s easy to evaluate how well the Fed is conducting monetary policy. And it has become transparently clear that… Continue reading The Federal Reserve And Failure
Bloomberg.com – Libor Woes Threaten to Turn Companies Off Syndicated Loan The scandal surrounding the London interbank offered rate is threatening to undermine confidence in syndicated loans and hasten companies’ flight to bonds. “What corporate treasurers are concerned about is the damage this Libor problem will do to market confidence,” said John Grout, the policy… Continue reading LIBOR Scandal Threatens Confidence In Syndicated Loans
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Iran’s oil output falls to a 20-year low Iran’s oil production has fallen to its lowest level since the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq war 20 years ago as western sanctions threaten Tehran’s economic lifeline. Oil traders and western policy makers who monitor Iranian oil production… Continue reading Crude Oil Production
Bloomberg.com – Paulson Funds Fell in June as Rally Undercut Euro Wager John Paulson, the billionaire hedge- fund manager seeking to reverse record losses in 2011, is digging himself into a deeper hole with a bet that Europe is facing a financial crisis. The $22 billion firm had losses in all its funds last month… Continue reading Paulson’s Funds Down Again In June
<Click on picture above to view video> <Click on picture above to view video> <Click on picture above to view video> <Click on picture above to view video>
The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: Weak Report Lifts Chance of Fed Action Friday’s disappointing jobs report increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will launch a new bond-buying program to boost economic growth, though it doesn’t ensure such a move. Fed officials emerged from their policy meeting in late June frustrated by the… Continue reading Jon “Fed Wire” Hilsenrath Comes To The Recsue (Again!)
Comment Jim Bianco was on CNN Friday discussing the jobs report. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. The Economist – The American economy: The doldrums HOW long ago seem the promising months of early 2012, when the American economy added jobs at a… Continue reading Payrolls Post Mortem
<Click on chart for larger image> MSN/Money – Bill Fleckenstein: It’s back to the waiting game With the euro still in crisis and the US economy stalling, we’re simply stuck. Deteriorating fundamentals make it hard to bet that stocks will move up, and money printing makes it tough to predict they’ll fall. Germany tends to… Continue reading Europe
<Click on chart for larger image> CNBC – Earnings Are the Next Big Test for Stocks In the coming week, the second quarter earnings season kicks off with just a few reports, but they will be important early looks at whether the fallout from Europe and the slower global growth is hurting corporate America. Alcoa… Continue reading Earnings Season Starts Today
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Dealers Declining Bernanke Twist Invitation Wall Street banks are increasingly choosing to hoard their U.S. bonds rather than sell them to the Federal Reserve as speculation grows that a slowing economy and global financial turmoil will only make them more dear. The world’s biggest bond dealers offered… Continue reading What Are The Dealers Doing?