Comment Yesterday we hosted a conference call titled “The Economy, The Markets And Central Banks.” If you missed it, here are links to the Handout, Audio, and Webcast. The stories below are topics we addressed in our conference call. Reuters – Analysis: As debt maturities loom, U.S. needs to extend Insatiable demand for safe haven… Continue reading The Economy, Markets And Central Banks
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Central bank flight to Federal Reserve safety tops Lehman crisis A key warning signal of global financial stress has shot above the extreme levels seen at the height of the Lehman crisis in 2008 Data from the St Louis Fed shows that reserve funds from “official foreign accounts” have… Continue reading A Sign Of European Bank Problems?
The New York Times – Banks Push Greek Bailout Plan No bank likes to take a loss, especially those in Europe that already suffer from a toxic mix of thin capital, troubled financing and weak loan books. But in the case of the proposed second bailout for Greece — the one that is supposed to… Continue reading More Greek Problems
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Germany fires cannon shot across Europe’s bows German President Christian Wulff has accused the European Central Bank of violating its treaty mandate with the mass purchase of southern European bonds In a cannon shot across Europe’s bows, he warned that Germany is reaching bailout exhaustion and cannot allow its own… Continue reading Germany Wants Limits On The ECB
The Financial Times – Gillian Tett: Get used to world without ‘risk free’ rate Earlier this week, I pointed out in a column that the cost of insuring the US government against default in the credit derivatives markets is now higher than for many major companies. More specifically, data from Markit shows that no less… Continue reading What Is Risk Free?
The Wall Street Journal – Speculation’s Part in Pump Prices Downplayed The Federal Trade Commission weighed into the intensifying debate in Washington about oil-market speculation, saying supply-and-demand forces drive gasoline prices, not speculative oil traders. The FTC didn’t investigate speculation independently, but reviewed the available research and found it inconclusive. The agency also looked at… Continue reading The FTC Says There Are No “Evil Oil Speculators”
The New York Times – White House Expects Persistently High Unemployment The White House budget office forecast on Thursday that unemployment would remain at 9 percent through the 2012 presidential election year, an outlook that it said calls for the sort of the job-creating tax cuts and spending President Obama will propose next week. The… Continue reading Long-Term Unemployment
The New York Times – U.S. Is Set to Sue a Dozen Big Banks Over Mortgages The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at… Continue reading The Mortgage Mess Continues
The Economist – Buttonwood: The lowdown The ominous progress of Treasury-bond yields It all looks very Japanese. As the chart shows, since 1999 ten-year Treasury-bond yields have followed a remarkably similar path to that taken by Japanese bond yields after that country’s economic bubble burst in 1990. The big question is whether they will now… Continue reading Japan/US Interest Rate Overlay
None Today
Conference Call Presentation/Charts of the Week Audio Webcast Topics Covered This Week Include: Summary/Conclusion What Is The Bigger Issue With The Markets? The Recession Concept That Is Bothering The Market Leaders Are Going The Wrong Way Is The Great Recession Really Over? Is Another Huge Earnings Miss Coming? Eurozone Disappoints Economists Drawing The Stock Market… Continue reading Untitled
Watch the latest video at video.foxbusiness.com Comment Yesterday Jim Bianco was on Fox Business discussing the the credit market and its relationship to the stock market. To view the interview, click on the image above. To view any of our recent interviews click here. We discussed the credit/equity divergence in detail last week: Namely, whenever… Continue reading Corporate Bonds Are Still Underperforming The Stock Market