Bloomberg.com – Bernanke Needs Some Bounce in His Tail Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is trying out a new communication strategy that has the potential to dramatically change the outlook for the economy. The idea: By telling people more about its longer-term plans, the Fed can stimulate the economy even when interest rates are as… Continue reading Federal Reserve Transparency
Bloomberg.com – ECB Balance Sheet Is 30% Bigger Than Germany’s Economy After Lending Boom The European Central Bank’s balance sheet surged to a record 3.02 trillion euros ($3.96 trillion) last week, 31 percent bigger than the German economy. Lending to euro-area banks jumped 310.7 billion euros to 1.13 trillion euros in the week ended March… Continue reading ECB Balance Sheet At A New Record
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Bank of Japan Likely to Extend Lending Effort The Bank of Japan is seeing brighter signs in the Japanese economy as the effects of reconstruction demand kick in a year after a huge earthquake devastated the country’s northeast, and will next week likely extend… Continue reading The Bank of Japan Eyes A 1% Inflation Target
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – You Hear That? It’s Quiet…Too Quiet For many, this year’s stock market rally has been really something. But investors and bankers on Wall Street worry it may be based on a whole lot of nothing, which is why they aren’t doing much of anything.… Continue reading All Quiet On The Western Front
The Financial Times – Regulators consider Libor overhaul UK regulators and global banks are discussing a potentially far-reaching overhaul of the calculation and regulation of interbank lending rates, amid claims that the benchmark for $350tn contracts worldwide may have been subject to manipulation. The review comes as regulators in North America, Europe and Japan have… Continue reading LIBOR Regulation
The Wall Street Journal – Clock Ticks on Buyout Debt A wave of leveraged-buyout debt is beginning to crash down on Europe’s shores. Over the next five years, some $550 billion of loans made to European companies taken over in leveraged buyouts will mature, according to data crunched by Dealogic for U.K. law firm Linklaters… Continue reading A European Debt Cliff
<Click on chart for larger image> Calculated Risk (Blog) – Housing: Year over Year change in Asking Prices According to housingtracker, median asking prices are up 3.9% year-over-year in early March. We can’t read too much into this increase because these are just asking prices, and median prices can be distorted by the mix. As… Continue reading Home Sellers More Optimistic
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Fed’s Fisher: Wall Street May Be Addicted to Cheap Money A key Federal Reserve official argued forcefully Monday against providing more monetary-policy stimulus to the economy, and accused Wall Street of getting addicted to cheap money from the Fed. “I am personally perplexed by the continued preoccupation, bordering upon… Continue reading Just Give Us One More Hit!
The Sun (UK) – Is trader’s £200k bar splurge the most expensive ever? The epic outlay included £125,000 on a bottle of the world’s priciest bubbly — a 30-litre double Nebuchadnezzar of Armand de Brignac Midas. Weighing a whopping 45kg, it had to be carried to the trader’s table at Liverpool club PlayGround by two… Continue reading Just Another Night Out
Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC with Diane Swonk on Friday discussing Europe and ‘QE World’. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. The Financial Times – ECB’s cheap loans are a balm not a cure For Europe’s bankers, Mario Draghi is a hero.… Continue reading Talking Europe