<Click on chart for larger image> MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Investors Dip Leading Edge of Toenail Back Into Stock Funds Stop the presses! Investors actually put money into U.S. stock funds in the week ended January 11! A sight accompanied by pigs flying. Now before anyone gets too excited, net flows into stock funds were… Continue reading Equity Mutual Funds See First Weekly Inflow Since September
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – In Symbolic Vote, House Rejects Debt-Ceiling Increase The House voted Wednesday to reject President Barack Obama’s request to raise the federal debt limit by $1.2 trillion, a symbolic act designed to let lawmakers oppose the increase while letting it take effect. A bipartisan deal… Continue reading The Debt Ceiling
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Obama Says No, for Now, to Canada Pipeline The Obama administration rejected the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, saying a congressionally imposed deadline didn’t allow enough time to review the project’s environmental impact. President Barack… Continue reading Keystone Pipeline On Hold
The Financial Times – IMF requests $500bn for bail-out loans The International Monetary Fund has asked its member countries for an extra $500bn in firepower to combat the world’s spreading fiscal emergencies, which it estimates will generate demand for bail-out loans totalling $1tn over the next two years. The estimate was presented by Christine Lagarde,… Continue reading What’s Another $500 Billion Amongst Friends?
The Wall Street Journal – Greece, Creditors Set to Resume Talks Greece’s government was set to resume talks with its private creditors Thursday over a plan to restructure the country’s debt, as it worked to secure a deal demanded by its European partners for a new bailout package. The talks come after negotiations between the… Continue reading Greek Haircuts
The Wall Street Journal – What’s Breaking The FX Risk Trade? 2012 may be The Year That Broke The Risk Trade if its early action sets an enduring trend. As the old year bowed out, the major financial markets could be split into two, well-correlated camps. When investors were risk averse, up went Treasurys, bunds… Continue reading The “Risk On/Risk Off” Trade
Bloomberg.com – Bernanke’s Housing-Market Meddling Tarnishes Trust To many people, housing is one reason why trust in the financial sector remains so stubbornly low. U.S. home prices have fallen 33 percent since their peak before the recession…If only we could straighten these problems out, the housing market could recover and the rest of the economy… Continue reading Trust Is All That Is Needed To Fix The Economy’s Woes
The Wall Street Journal – Alan Blinder: Four Deficit Myths and a Frightening Fact Sadly, the public debate over the deficit is full of misconceptions and falsehoods. Remember the Moynihan Principle? The late senator from New York once said that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. In that… Continue reading Alan Blinder Talks Deficit
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Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: The ECRI Falls Again A Long Term Look At Moody’s Aaa And Baa Interest Rates An Updated Look At Credit A Look At Bank Loans Why Banks Are Rallying in 2012 10-Year Treasury Yields & Mortgage Yields The Yuan As The Reserve Currency? China A Net… Continue reading Charts of the Week
Today at noon CT Jim Bianco will be speaking at a CFA Chicago event at the Standard Club. If you would like to attend, click here to register. If you cannot attend in person, the Chicago CFA is launching a new webcast option. Since this is the first such webcast for the Chicago CFA, it… Continue reading “What Drives The Bond Market?”
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – EFSF/ESM: is a triple A essential? If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again. Two years ago, European politicians and officials made a huge fuss about securing a triple A rating for the European Financial Stability Facility, the eurozone’s bail-out fund, which is… Continue reading The New And Improved ESM Begins To Take Over The EFSF