<Click on chart for larger image> MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Morning MarketBeat: Retail Investors Chasing Stocks at Wrong Time? Investors are finally putting money into domestic equity funds. Their timing couldn’t be worse. The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s biggest selloff of 2012 coincided with data showing domestic equity funds registered their biggest weekly inflows in… Continue reading Mutual Fund Flows
The Financial Times – UBS suspends traders in Libor probe UBS has suspended some of its most senior traders in connection with an international probe into the possible manipulation of interbank borrowing rates, in the latest controversy to hit the Swiss bank since the financial crisis. Regulators in North America, Europe and Japan have been… Continue reading LIBOR
<Click on chart for larger image> The Associated Press – Homebuilder optimism rises for 5th straight month Builders’ sentiment rises for 5th straight month, to highest level since in nearly 5 years U.S. homebuilders are gradually growing more optimistic about the depressed housing market and believe homes sales could pick up sharply when the spring… Continue reading Signs Of Life In The Housing Market?
The Wall Street Journal – Money-Fund Plan Gets Cold Shoulder Regulators’ latest plan to shore up the $2.7 trillion money-market mutual fund industry is getting an icy reception from some individual investors. As part of a proposal being floated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, investors who wish to sell all their holdings in a… Continue reading Money Market Funds
The Wall Street Journal – Fed Takes Lead on Repo Revamp The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said it will take a stronger oversight role in a short-term financing market after an industry group failed to move quickly enough to overhaul the sector. Responding to the latest report from a task force of financial… Continue reading Federal Reserve Regulation
Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: Bond Market Sleepwalks After Bernanke’s Downers Dear Ben: I understand the Fed operates under a dual mandate from Congress, charged with maintaining stable prices and maximum employment. I also understand your concern about elevated long- term unemployment, about the lives and livelihoods destroyed by the lack of a job or the… Continue reading Mixed Messages From The Federal Reserve
The Wall Street Journal – Greek Official Plays Down Talk of Delay A senior Greek government official reaffirmed Thursday that the country hopes to clinch a second bailout at Monday’s meeting of euro-zone finance ministers, waving off talk of a possible delay in payments of the bailout package. Questioned on whether some of Greece’s euro-zone… Continue reading Greece
Bloomberg.com – Clive Crook: Germany Must Decide What the European Union Is For For the past several decades Germany’s aim for Europe has been to create a wider and deeper union. In this way it sought to advance its economic and national-security interests, to bind itself to ever closer co- operation with its neighbors, and… Continue reading More On Germany’s Responsibility To The EU
Comment When discussing politics in an election year, a candidate’s likelihood of election becomes just as important as policy discussions. In order to gauge the horse race, we believe the InTrade betting markets offer a good measure of a candidate’s odds. Think of them as a real-time poll. They are updated every 30 seconds in… Continue reading An Update On The Upcoming Election
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Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Are The Bulls Back? Earnings Season Update – Still Not Good Earnings Season Update – Still Not Good – 2 Earnings Season Update – Still Not Good -3 The Euro-Zone Contracts … Could Have Been Worse Government Credit vs Private Credit Our QE World Expands Once… Continue reading Charts of the Week
Comment Jim Bianco was on Yahoo Finance discussing the Federal Reserve and QE3 on Monday afternoon. To view the interview click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. Yahoo Finance – QE3 or No QE3? The Only “Transparency” the Market Cares About The minutes of the Fed’s January meeting… Continue reading Discussing QE3