The Economist – Here we go again The Europeans are pushing the global banking system to the edge YOU know something bad is going to happen in a horror film when someone decides to take a late-night stroll in a forest. The equivalent in finance is a bank boss insisting that his institution is completely… Continue reading What Should Europe Do? First, Get A Plan
<Click on chart for larger image> Yahoo Finance – 30-year mortgage below 4 pct. for first time ever The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage this week fell below 4 percent for the first time ever, to 3.94 percent. For those who can qualify, it’s an extraordinary opportunity to buy a home or refinance.… Continue reading Mortgage Rates Fall To A New Record
Bloomberg.com – Strategists See Biggest S&P 500 Gain Since ’98 Wall Street strategists say the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, after falling within 1 percent of a bear market this week, will post the biggest fourth-quarter rally in 13 years even after they cut forecasts at a rate exceeded only during the credit crisis. The… Continue reading Still Bullish!
The Economist – Western banks: Danger everywhere The debt crisis in Europe is draining confidence in banks “THIS brutal lack of confidence” is how the chief executive of one of Europe’s biggest banks describes the situation facing his firm and its peers. The catalogue of troubles afflicting the institution (call it Bank X, so as… Continue reading European Banks
Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: Anti-Wall Street Protests Ignore Legitimate Gripe From the looks of the youthful, costumed characters swaying to the music and flying colorful balloons, it was hard to tell if Occupy Wall Street was a street fair, a ‘60s-style love-in or a protest rally. To get up to speed on the leaderless movement… Continue reading Occupy Wall Street
The Wall Street Journal – The Case Against Commodities The trend of rising commodity prices in recent years helped fuel a belief that is now common among financial advisers and pension managers: that ordinary investors should have some slice of their long-term money parked in commodities. But there’s a case against commodities, too: the human… Continue reading Commodities As An Asset Class
<Click on chart for larger image> MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Stocks, Credit Continue to Sing Different Tunes Stocks are galloping higher this afternoon, building on yesterday’s last-hour rally, helped along by another headline from the FT — Europe’s going to maybe have a do-over on its bank stress tests. The first tests were defective, apparently,… Continue reading Credit vs. Stocks
Bloomberg.com – World Has “Bigger Problem” Than in 2008, Taleb Says Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the best-selling book “The Black Swan,” said the current global market turmoil is worse than it was in 2008 because countries such as the U.S. have larger sovereign-debt loads. “Definitely, we face a bigger problem now and we will… Continue reading Nassim Taleb Still Believes The Sky Is Falling
Zero Hedge (Blog) – De Tijd Reports Dexia To Be Nationalized As predicted, the Dexia “bad bank” rumor lasted all of, oh, 24 hours. After exhausting all talking points, French and Belgian politicians took out the abacus and were horrified to learn, as we suggested, that any implicit backstop would cost them dearly, and in… Continue reading Bank Nationalization
FT Alphaville (FT Blog) – Bank of England restarts QE The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to increase the size of its asset purchase programme, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, by £75… Continue reading More QE For England
The Economist – Is Euroland really facing a Lehman moment? Edward Lazear, who was President Bush’s chief economic adviser during the financial crisis, argued that the contagion effects of Lehman’s fall in September 2008 had been exaggerated. He likened the crisis to popcorn rather than dominoes. If the heat is on, removing one kernel from… Continue reading Comparing Contagion To Popping Popcorn Or A Spreading Infection