Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: Government’s Snake Oil Won’t Cure Jobs Ailment Want to know what Federal Reserve policy makers are thinking at any given time? Take a look at what the research staff is doing. Back in the early 1990s, the staff was busy trying to explain the inexplicable weakness in M2, the Fed’s broad… Continue reading Can The Federal Reserve Create Jobs?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Investors Play Chicken With Washington Washington’s can-kickers are lacing up their boots, increasingly confident they will be playing a familiar sport come November. It may turn out to be a dangerous game of chicken instead. The federal budget is headed in less than eight… Continue reading The Fiscal Cliff
MarketWatch – Treasury bond ‘bubble’ is nothing to fear Two of the last Treasury bond bulls stood up the other day and made their best case for the worst case. Market strategist David Rosenberg and economist Lacy Hunt — who both see 30-year Treasury yields diving to 2% as prices surge — addressed hedge-fund investors… Continue reading Bond Bulls Unite
Bloomberg.com – Bernanke Gets 75% Approval From Investors in Global Poll Global investors give Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke his highest approval rating since 2009 and expect him to take further action this year to accelerate a revival in the U.S. economy and financial markets. Bernanke, whom Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he… Continue reading All Hail Bernanke
The Wall Street Journal – What Makes a Great Stock Analyst? Who are the best stock analysts? The Wall Street Journal kicked off the first Best on the Street survey (then called All-Star Analysts) 20 years ago by asking that very question. Each year since, the Journal and its data partner have tried to give… Continue reading Characteristics Of A Great Stock Analyst
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Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Consumer Credit – Worse Than You Think Consumer Credit – Worse Than You Think – 2 The Take-Away From The European Elections Greece Stock Market Falls 88% From 2007 High Spain 10-Year Yields Above 6 % Again Central Bank Balance Sheets Gas Prices Are Falling, And… Continue reading Charts of the Week
The Independent – Eurozone contagion fears spread as Greeks refuse cuts Greece’s position in the single currency is “hanging by a thread”, analysts warned last night, as left-wingers who made big gains in the elections rejected the terms of the international bailout agreed by the previous government. Alexis Tsipras, the young leader of the radical… Continue reading Austerity In Europe
Bloomberg.com – Greece Likely to Exit Euro This Year, FX Concept’s Taylor Says Greece will probably leave the euro as soon as next month as the government runs out of cash and European institutions fail to lend more to the nation, according to John Taylor of hedge fund FX Concepts LLC. “This summer I think… Continue reading Greece Likely To Exit The Eurozone
<Click on chart for larger image> The Atlantic – The Greek Stock Market Has Now Fallen Over 88% Here’s a phrase you never want to hear: “worse than the Great Depression.” Unfortunately, as Evan Soltas pointed out, that’s the reality in Greece nowadays. At least when it comes to stock prices. The Athens Stock Exchange… Continue reading Greece Stock Market Falls 88% From 2007 High
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Spanish Yields at 6% on Greek Deadlock; Bunds Set Records Spanish 10-year yields rose past 6 percent and Italian bonds declined as Greece’s leaders struggled to form a new government, adding to concern political deadlock in the Hellenic nation will deepen the euro-area debt crisis. German 10-… Continue reading Spain
The Wall Street Journal – Unemployment Rate Without Government Cuts: 7.1% One reason the unemployment rate may have remained persistently high: The sharp cuts in state and local government spending in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and the layoffs those cuts wrought. The Labor Department’s establishment survey of employers — the jobs count… Continue reading A Look At The Unemployment Rate Without Government Cuts