The Financial Times – Europe on edge as rescue talks stall European leaders will be forced to hold a second summit, perhaps as early as Wednesday, because of the inability of Germany and France to reach a deal on how to increase the firepower of the eurozone’s €440bn rescue fund. European leaders confirmed that a… Continue reading Will There Be A Deal This Weekend?
The Wall Street Journal – Could ‘Twist’ Really Be Working? Skeptics Had Cast Doubts on Chances of Bond Shuffle Sparking the Economy—but Stocks Are Up Stocks are up 5.8% this month, while Treasurys have taken a rare beating. Some in the market suspect the force behind the moves is “Operation Twist”—a surprise to many who… Continue reading Is “Twist” Working?
Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: My 5-Point Plan Makes 9-9-9 Look Complicated President Barack Obama has a jobs plan, in case anyone has been off the planet for the past month. House Republicans now have a jobs plan. Each of the presidential candidates has some kind of employment blueprint. Members of Congress have a bipartisan jobs… Continue reading Jobs Plan
The Wall Street Journal – Jon Hilsenrath: Fed Is Poised for More Easing Federal Reserve officials are starting to build a case for a new program of buying mortgage-backed securities to boost the ailing economy, though they appear unlikely to move swiftly. The idea would be to target any new efforts by the central bank… Continue reading Is QE3 Coming?
The Wall Street Journal – Struggling French Banks Fought to Avoid Oversight Two years ago, a French banker flew to Washington on an emergency mission: Persuade International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn that his concerns about the health of the European banking sector were unfounded. The trip was a success. Mr. Strauss-Kahn agreed to keep… Continue reading French Banks
Bloomberg.com – France Likely to Lose Top Rating in Stressed Economic Scenario, S&P Says France is among euro-region sovereigns likely to be downgraded in a stressed economic scenario, according to Standard & Poor’s. The sovereign ratings of Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal would also be reduced by another one or two levels in either of… Continue reading France
The Financial Times – BNP urges EFSF to issue credit default swaps A proposal that the eurozone’s rescue fund should issue credit default swaps to investors buying government debt from Italy and Spain was launched yesterday even as bonds in the European financial stability facility sold off sharply. In a sign of the anxiety in… Continue reading EFSF CDS?
Reuters – Losses mean sleepless nights for John Paulson Hedge fund heavyweight John Paulson said poor performance by his funds keeps him up at night, so the billionaire stock picker must be going sleepless a lot these days. This year is quickly shaping up to be the worst of Paulson’s decades-long career, with most of… Continue reading Paulson Can’t Sleep
Yahoo – Man jailed after trying to turn faeces into gold A man from Northern Ireland has been jailed after an experiment in which he attempted to turn his own faeces into gold went wrong and started a fire in a block of flats. Paul Moran will now serve three months in jail and a… Continue reading All That Glitters Is Not Gold
h/t The Big Picture
MarketWatch – Dividends work for top performing letter Market timing, phooey! A dividend-yield strategy is working for a top-performing letter. The Utility Forecaster, edited by Roger Conrad, is the No. 2 performer over the year to date through September by Hulbert Financial Digest count, up 8.2% vs. negative 9.86% for the dividend-reinvested Wilshire 5000 Total… Continue reading Dividend Stocks
The Wall Street Journal – Doubts Grow on Euro Fund Doubts grew about the effectiveness of a key proposal for stemming Europe’s deepening debt crisis as it emerged that officials have ruled out a plan for the euro-zone’s bailout fund to directly guarantee bond issues. Instead, European officials are discussing a scenario in which governments… Continue reading European Negotiations Continue