<Click on chart for larger image> Reuters – Gold ETF inflows feel the credit crunch The inflows into gold-backed exchange-traded funds that helped drive bullion demand sharply higher during the financial crisis have more than halved this year, according to Reuters data, and are unlikely to recover in 2012 as appetite grows for other assets.… Continue reading Gold ETF
The Telegraph (UK) – Sir Mervyn King: debt crisis is causing a dangerous ‘dependence on central banks’ Sir Mervyn King has used his position as vice-chairman of Europe’s “early warning watchdog” to warn that the developing debt crisis is causing a dangerous “dependence on central banks”. Just a day after the European Central Bank (ECB)… Continue reading Central Banking
Reuters – Paulson funds down again in December: source There will be no holiday cheer for hedge fund manager John Paulson this month, as his dismal performance in 2011 is capped off by another miserable performance so far in December. The Paulson & Co.’s Advantage Plus fund, which has been the firm’s worst performer all… Continue reading Hedge Funds’ Forgettable Year
The New York Times – Retailers Are Slashing Prices Ahead of Holiday Half off at the entire store at Ann Taylor. Sixty percent at Gap. Forty percent off almost everything at Abercrombie & Fitch. Aggressive last-minute deals in the days before Christmas are good for procrastinators, but they could be an alarm bell for the… Continue reading Christmas Sales
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Please join us this morning at 9AM CT as we discuss the major issues affecting the markets heading into 2012. Click here to register Note – tomorrow we will post replay info in this space. Next week we will post a transcript. [pageview class=”PDFViewer” url=”https://www.biancoresearch.com/bianco/wp-content/plugins/PDFViewer/plugin.php?id=55″]
The Wall Street Journal – European Banks Rush to Grasp Lifeline Hundreds of euro-zone lenders took out €489.19 billion ($640 billion) in low-interest loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday, as the currency area extended a massive financial lifeline to its struggling banking industry. The unexpectedly heavy demand from 523 banks for the three-year… Continue reading LTRO
The Wall Street Journal – More Funds Dying for Fresh Blood They are the walking dead of the booming exchange-traded fund industry: zombie-like ETFs that get scant investor interest and barely trade. Often designed as vehicles for narrow investment niches—from dividend-paying stocks in the Middle East to fishing-industry shares—these ETFs are learning the hard way… Continue reading ETFs
The Financial Times – How to avoid the ‘zombification’ of Europe The main problem is that European leaders have misdiagnosed the underlying causes of the crisis, ending up with a flawed agenda and inappropriate policies. They attribute the crisis to fiscal profligacy and the lack of adequate institutional fiscal mechanisms, rather than to the large… Continue reading Europe
The Financial Times – Volatility is far from extraordinary Memory is a funny thing. 2011 has already gone down among traders as one of the worst years in equity markets, full of sudden reversals, wild volatility and fear… Again, though, things are not as bad as is made out. True, broad European indices are down… Continue reading Some Historical Context On Volatility
The Wall Street Journal – What Fannie and Freddie Knew Now thanks to the unlikely source of the Securities and Exchange Commission we have a trail of evidence showing how the failed mortgage giants turbocharged the crisis. That’s the story revealed Friday by the SEC’s civil lawsuits against six former Fannie and Freddie executives, including… Continue reading Fannie & Freddie
Reuters – Felix Salmon: Unreliable housing statistic of the day How many existing homes (as opposed to new homes) were sold between 2007 and 2010? The job of counting such things is outsourced to the National Association of Realtors, which up until yesterday said that the number was 20,629,000. Today, however, it released revised figures,… Continue reading Fictional Housing Numbers