<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Gold Drops to a Seven-Week Low Gold futures tumbled nearly 3% Monday, cut down by a stronger U.S. dollar and by ratings companies’ negative comments about last week’s European sovereign-debt summit…some investors are turning to gold as a source of cash, said Charles Nedoss,… Continue reading Gold’s Drawdown
The Financial Times – More banks turn to ‘extendable’ repo deals More banks, including US institutions, have been striking complex and controversial deals aimed at satisfying new rules requiring them to hold longer-term financing. The deals, called “extendable repo trades”, function as alternatives to loans for banks, helping them fund themselves for longer periods. Financial… Continue reading Extendable Repo Deals
MarketWatch – Doing well by doing good Do companies that do good do well too? There’s some tantalizing evidence that they do. And while that’s good news any time of the year, it is especially welcome in the midst of the holiday season. The evidence comes in the form of an academic study that focused… Continue reading Is Your Portfolio Naughty Or Nice This Holiday Season?
None Today
The New York Times – German Vision Prevails as Leaders Agree on Fiscal Pact Europe’s worst financial crisis in generations is forging a new European Union, pushing Britain to the sidelines and creating a more integrated, fiscally disciplined core of nations under the auspices of a resurgent Germany. Exactly 20 years to the day after… Continue reading The EU Summit
The Wall Street Journal – Banks Sit in a Tangled Web Dozens of banks across Europe have sold large quantities of insurance to other banks and investors that protects against the risk of ailing countries defaulting on their debts, the latest illustration of the extensive financial entanglements among the continent’s banks and governments. New data… Continue reading Who Owns European Sovereign CDS?
Bloomberg.com – European CEOs Move Cash to Germany In Case of Euro Breakup European companies spent billions preparing for the euro when it was introduced in 2000 by 11 countries. Contingency planning for an unraveling of the currency involves cutting investment, moving money to Germany, transferring headquarters to northern Europe from southern, and even going… Continue reading More Contingency Planning In Case Of Euro Breakup
The New York Times – Floyd Norris: The Euro Has Been Very Good — for Germany In the first years of the euro, which was introduced in 1999, countries on the edge of the euro zone benefited economically more than Germany. But over the last five years, the situation has been reversed. The charts show… Continue reading The Economic Effect Of The Euro
<Click on graphic for larger image> Barron’s – JACQUELINE DOHERTY: Where Is All That Corporate Cash, Anyway? U.S. companies are flush with cash, and tax laws have encouraged them to keep a growing stash overseas. But parking money in Europe could pose problems AMERICAN COMPANIES HAVE HUGE cash stashes overseas for several reasons. Some generate… Continue reading Cash On The Sidelines
The Telegraph (UK) – Bundesbank rejects Europe’s IMF funding ruse Germany’s Bundesbank has raised serious objections to EU summit plans to shore up Italy and Spain by channelling up to €200bn (£170bn) from central bank reserves through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Europe’s leaders agreed in Brussels to mobilise the reserves of the 17 national… Continue reading Germany Objects To An IMF Bailout
Reuters – Corporate warnings bode ill for earnings Fourth – and first-quarter earnings growth estimates for Standard & Poor’s 500 companies have come down sharply since July, underscoring worries about the outlook for companies. Earnings are now expected to increase 10.1 percent for the fourth quarter, down from a growth estimate of 15 percent at… Continue reading Earnings Estimates
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Number of the Week: Finance’s Share of Economy Continues to Grow 8.4%: The financial sector’s share of gross domestic product. Given everything that’s happened, surely the financial sector’s role in the economy is smaller now than it was before the recession hit, right? Wrong. Combined, finance and insurance firms… Continue reading Measuring The Financial Sector