<Click on image for larger picture> MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – U.S. Borrowing Costs: 1941-Present We can’t take it any more! The clamor for more historical context on the current record low for U.S. interest rates has hit a fever pitch! So we feel responsible to offer our loyal readers this excellent chart, concocted by the… Continue reading The 10-Year Officially Hits An All-Time Low
Bloomberg.com – Japan’s Debt Sustains a Deflationary Depression Last year, Japan’s gross government debt was 220 percent of gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund, by far the largest ratio of any Group of Seven country. All governments lend back and forth among official entities so that their gross debt is bigger than… Continue reading Debt & Deflation
Project Syndicate – Paul Volcker: Is Global Financial Reform Possible? Nowadays there is ample evidence that financial systems, whether in Asia in the 1990’s or a decade later in the United States and Europe, are vulnerable to breakdowns. The cost in interrupted growth and unemployment has been intolerably large. But, in the absence of international… Continue reading Volcker’s Call For Financial Reform
The Wall Street Journal – Robert Barro: Why This Slow Recovery Is Like No Recovery The average annual growth rate of U.S. GDP since 1948 has been 3.1%. In the recession starting in the third quarter of 2007 and ending in the second quarter of 2009, GDP fell by nearly 5%. But this decline is… Continue reading Where’s The Growth?
Zero Hedge (Blog) – And Now, Courtesy of Bridgewater… It’s Italy’s Turn Earlier today, by way of a simple graphic, the world’s biggest hedge fund, Bridgewater, was kind enough to remind the world just how pointless any debates about Europe’s future viability are if the primary funding conduit: the EFSF/ESM hybrid can not provide the… Continue reading Italy Back In The Crosshairs
The Financial Times – Gillian Tett: Our volatile age defies spreadsheet strategy As turmoil builds, investors and policy makers are being tipped into cognitive shock. In the past few decades, most investors have operated as if the world was a place in which the key variables could be plugged into a spreadsheet or computer model.… Continue reading Spreadsheets Cannot Predict The Future
None Today
AFP – Portugal injects $A8.4bn into three banks Portugal will inject more than 6.65 billion euros ($A8.49 billion) into private banks BCP and BPI, and the state-owned CGD to meet criteria established by the European Banking Authority. “In all, the state will inject more than 6.65 billion euros in these banks,” though five billion euros… Continue reading It’s All About European Deposit Runs
Comment Jim Bianco was on Reuters TV on Friday discussing the possibility of QE3. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. It seems the odds of QE3 are rapidly rising. All the stories below say that. However, the Federal Reserve has often used inflation… Continue reading Is QE3 Coming?
The Wall Street Journal – No Rescue Helicopter for U.S. Banks Lost in Low-Rate Jungle There is no escape from the killing yields. Banks have long struggled under the weight of superlow interest rates, which have eaten into margins. Now, with yields on long-dated government debt plumbing new historic lows, things may only get worse.… Continue reading Banks Suffer From Low Rates
The Wall Street Journal – Number of the Week: Most Unemployed Have College Experience The difference is particularly stark among young workers. In May, the unemployment rate for 16-24 year old high-school dropouts was 28%, while those in that age group with a bachelor’s degree or higher had just a 6.8% jobless rate. There is… Continue reading Who Is Unemployed
The Wall Street Journal – Obama Seeks Way Out of Jobs Gloom Trying to limit damage from a weak jobs report, the White House is pressing for bigger action from Congress and searching for ways to prod Europe to do more to pump up global economic activity. But President Barack Obama has limited options to… Continue reading Is Obama A Risk-On Asset?