CNBC.com – Greece Faces ‘Hellish Week’ as Debt Crisis Tests Nation The streets of Athens are filled with tension, and garbage.Sanitation workers, along with nearly all other civil servants, are on strike, leading to heaping piles of trash on corner after corner. But all Athenians are tensely bracing themselves for three key events his week… Continue reading Greece
The Wall Street Journal – New Mortgage Plan Floated State and federal officials are pushing a plan that could help some “underwater” borrowers get refinancing assistance in the latest government bid to break a legal impasse with big banks over alleged foreclosure abuses and ease problems in the housing market. The proposal was raised in… Continue reading Underwater Homes In The U.S.
The Financial Times – EU ban on ‘naked’ CDS to become permanent A permanent ban on so-called naked credit default swaps is set to be agreed by European Union lawmakers, in effect restricting the sovereign credit insurance to investors seeking to hedge long positions. After more than a year of difficult and erratic negotiations, officials… Continue reading EU “Naked” CDS Ban To Become Permanent
The Wall Street Journal – China’s Economic Growth Slows China’s economic growth slowed in the third quarter but remained at a relatively healthy pace, adding to evidence that the Chinese economy is headed for a soft landing. Economists are now divided on whether a loosening of Beijing’s economic policies is imminent. China’s third-quarter gross domestic… Continue reading China Is Slowing
None Today
Comment Jim Bianco was on CNBC Friday discussing the recent stock market rally. To view the interview click on the picture above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. During the interview we discussed the chart below. For all the talk of the “impressive” stock market rally, the market has not broken out… Continue reading Market Outlook
Bloomberg.com – Hedge Funds Add to Commodities Wagers Speculators boosted their wagers on higher commodity prices for the first time in five weeks as increasing confidence that the global economy will avoid another recession spurred the biggest rally of the year. Money managers boosted combined net-long positions across 18 U.S. futures and options by 0.2… Continue reading Hedge Funds And Commodities
The Financial Times – US and Europe ‘may be in recession’ The US and much of Europe may already be in recession while demand is dropping sharply in emerging markets, the head of one of the US’s biggest manufacturers has warned. In an interview with the Financial Times, Tom Linebarger, who will take over as… Continue reading The Mess That Is Europe
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Central Banks Selling Most Treasuries Since 2007 Prove No Barrier to Rally International central banks are selling the most Treasuries since the credit crisis began just as institutional investors load up on U.S. government bonds. The Federal Reserve said its holdings of U.S. government debt on behalf… Continue reading Foreign Central Bank Holdings Of Treasuries
Bloomberg.com – U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Falls The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan preliminary October index of consumer sentiment fell to 57.5 from 59.4 a month earlier, the group reported today. The median forecast of 73 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was 60.2, and estimates ranged from 57 to 64. The index averaged 89 in… Continue reading Confidence Versus Retail Sales
Barron’s – RANDALL W. FORSYTH: Preoccupied by Wall Street The Federal Reserve’s stimulus moves have backfired, boosting the stock market instead of the economy While the Fed mulls more ambitious plans to tell the public how it will steer the economy in the future, perhaps the monetary authorities should reflect on the results of their… Continue reading The Federal Reserve, Praise or Blame?
Bloomberg.com – Bill Gross Tells Clients 2011 a ‘Stinker’ Bill Gross, manager of the world’s biggest mutual fund, told clients he misjudged the extent of the economic slowdown in developed economies, causing his Pimco Total Return Fund to trail rivals this year. “This year is a stinker,” Gross wrote in a letter to clients entitled… Continue reading Pimco Struggles