60 Minutes – An Imperfect Union: Europe’s debt crisis Ten European countries are in a recession. In order to avoid default, three have needed bailouts from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, and more might be necessary. What’s at stake? A lot, including the future of the currency, the euro, and the health… Continue reading Understanding The European Debt Crisis
Bloomberg Businessweek – The Confusion Over Stock Dividends Yet treating stocks as income-generators comes with a cost. “Rather than viewing dividend stocks as a way to capture extra yield, in the past we have stressed that dividend stocks should simply be viewed as a slightly less risky form of stock investing,” Jim Bianco of Bianco… Continue reading Dividend Paying Stocks
Bloomberg.com – Bernanke Warning on Jobs Vindicated by March Payrolls Report Ben S. Bernanke warned last month that payroll gains might slow as companies adjust their labor needs for a period of moderate growth. Today’s Labor Department report may have proved the Federal Reserve chairman right. Employers in the U.S. added 120,000 jobs in March,… Continue reading Is Bernanke Lucky Or Smart?
The New York Times – Paul Krugman: Not Enough Inflation How so? For one thing, large parts of the private sector continue to be crippled by the overhang of debt accumulated during the bubble years; this debt burden is arguably the main thing holding private spending back and perpetuating the slump. Modest inflation would, however,… Continue reading Too Little Inflation?
The Financial Times – Investors braced for fall in US profits The start of the first-quarter earnings reporting season this week is set to challenge the US equity market, with analysts predicting that profits will fall in most sectors. Average earnings for the first quarter are seen as being flat to slightly negative, with growth… Continue reading Will Earnings Season Disappoint?
The New York Times – Still Crawling Out of a Very Deep Hole The employment report for March, released Friday, was a big disappointment. After three straight months of job gains above 200,000, only 120,000 new jobs were added last month. Of course, one month’s data does not a trend make. But March’s reversal is… Continue reading How Big Is The Jobs Hole?
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Gold crash on Fed tightening and euro salvation looks premature Until the rising reserve powers of Asia, Russia and the Gulf regain trust in the shattered credibility of the world’s two great fiat currencies – if they ever do – gold is unlikely to crash far or remain in… Continue reading Gold
The New York Times – Some Dreary Forecasts From Recovery Skeptics When a lackluster jobs report came in on Friday morning, some economists, investors and forecasters were hardly surprised. Call them permabears. A solid six months of good and getting-better data — fewer Americans claiming unemployment benefits, rising industrial production and improving economic sentiment among… Continue reading The Economic Recovery
Reuters – Analysis: Short on Tools, Central Banks Left With Words Some of the world’s most prominent central bankers may have to hope the pen is as mighty as the sword. With the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and other authorities in industrialized countries already stretching the limits of monetary policy, pressure has risen… Continue reading All About The Federal Reserve
San Francisco Federal Reserve – Why Has Wage Growth Stayed Strong? Despite a severe recession and modest recovery, real wage growth has stayed relatively solid. A key reason seems to be downward nominal wage rigidities, that is, the tendency of employers to avoid cutting the dollar value of wages. This phenomenon means that, in nominal… Continue reading Yes We Have Wage Growth
The Financial Times – Lex: Corporate leverage: don’t believe all you hear Hear it enough you start to believe it. Everyone from squawking television heads to brokers hawking stocks say that companies are deleveraging. Awash with cash they are. By the end of this year, America’s non-financial companies will have an aggregate $1.3tn pile of… Continue reading Are We Really Deleveraging?
Business Insider – EXPOSED: Why It’s Impossible For Goldman To Be Wrong About The Stock Market You’ve got to be kidding us, Goldman Sachs. In recent weeks, at least four different strategists from Goldman Sachs (honestly we’ve lost count) have offered different opinions on the direction of the stock markets. They range from extremely bullish… Continue reading Goldman Has All Angles Covered