<Click on chart for larger image> CNBC.com – Gold Prices Already Peaked in 2011: Report Gold prices should remain high this year but are unlikely to rise above the record levels reached in 2011, according to CPM Group. That is the key takeaway from CPM Group’s latest forecast—“Gold Yearbook 2012,” its annual analysis into the… Continue reading Have Gold Prices Peaked?
The Financial Times – ECB fails to stem reduction in lending But ECB data on Wednesday, although showing the ECB’s measures had encouraged Spanish and Italian banks to ramp up purchases of government debt, revealed that the flow of credit to the real economy had continued to contract – although at a slower rate than… Continue reading Europe
The Wall Street Journal – Fed Has Done Enough to Protect U.S. From Europe, Official Says The Federal Reserve has likely done enough for now to protect the U.S. economy from Europe’s ongoing financial crisis, a top U.S. central bank official told a congressional panel Tuesday. While the Fed is “actively and carefully assessing” what… Continue reading Don’t Worry …The Federal Reserve Has Saved The U.S. From The Crisis In Europe
<Click on chart for larger image> MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Treasury Yields: The ‘Real’ Story from 1920 to Now Consider this: If the market geniuses are right, we’re nearing the end of the 31-year decline in interest rates. This is only the third bull market for bonds since the late 19th century. The first lasted… Continue reading Real Yields
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Bernanke: Unemployment Benefits Don’t Keep Jobless Rate High Unemployment insurance may help encourage workers to stay in the labor force, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday at an economics conference. Providing benefits to workers without a job likely doesn’t contribute to the jobless rate or the high level… Continue reading Bernanke On The Labor Market
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Planned Pipelines to Rival Keystone XL Two major energy companies are planning to build new pipelines that will move as much as 850,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to refineries along the Gulf Coast by mid-2014, in the latest effort to… Continue reading The WTI/Brent Spread
The Wall Street Journal – Fed Signals Resolve on Rates Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank’s easy-money policies are still needed to confront deep problems in the labor market, moving to reinforce his plan to keep interest rates low for years. His comments, at a conference near Washington of the National Association… Continue reading Parsing Bernanke’s Comments
<Click on chart for larger image> EconoMonitor – Chicago Fed: US Economic Activity “Near Average” in February The plot thickens for deciphering the next move for the business cycle… or does it? The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)—a broad measure of the U.S. economy—slipped last month. “Two of the four broad categories of indicators… Continue reading The Chicago Federal Reserve National Activity Index
The Wall Street Journal – Bailout Braggadocio Doesn’t Pay in the End We have all done it. We start playing a game, be it Scrabble or a pickup soccer match, thinking it is just for fun, that the result doesn’t really matter. But those noble feelings quickly melt in the heat of the battle. We… Continue reading Tracking The Bailout’s Profits & Losses
The Financial Times – Investors must not be cowed by end of bond run Powerful new dynamics are shaping the US bond market in ways that will require many investors to fundamentally rethink their portfolios. Chief among these is a shrinking supply of fixed income assets and a ravenous investor appetite for yield, which will… Continue reading Is The Bond Bull Over?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Treasurys Pile Up With Dealers As investors discard Treasurys, record amounts of short-term notes are piling up with the select group of banks compelled to sop up unwanted government bonds. This buildup in inventory could become increasingly troublesome for this club of 21 primary… Continue reading Primary Dealer Holdings