The New York Times – Time to Say It: Double Dip Recession May Be Happening Double dip may be back. It has been three decades since the United States suffered a recession that followed on the heels of the previous one. But it could be happening again. The unrelenting negative economic news of the past… Continue reading The Recession Concept That Is Bothering The Market
<Click on chart for larger image> cnbc.com – Debt Debate Distracted From, Maybe Worsened, Real Threat: Recession “Volume was heavy and across all investor types, especially real money who poured cash back into the Treasury market again,” said William O’Donnell on the RBS bonds desk Tuesday. “We got the breakdown in S&P futures that we… Continue reading Volume In The Treasury Market
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg Businessweek – VIX Surges Most Since 2007 as U.S. Option Trades Jump to Record U.S. options prices soared the most in four years and volume jumped to a record 35 million contracts as investors scrambled to buy protection against greater stock- market losses as worsening economic data sent… Continue reading Fear In The Markets
<Click on chart for larger image> The Telegraph (UK) – The ECB throws Italy and Spain to the wolves Its refusal to act in the face of an existential threat to monetary union has set off violent tremors across the global financial system, raising the risk that the crisis will spiral out of control. Bank… Continue reading Europe
<Click on chart for larger image> The Christian Science Monitor – Mortgage rates at record lows. Will that finally lift US housing market? One bit of positive fallout from the debt-ceiling deal reached earlier this week: Mortgage rates have fallen to levels that are at or near record lows. That’s a boost for the US… Continue reading Mortgage Rates Plummet
MarketWatch – Stocks pricing in a new recession If it’s August it must be time for another chapter of the European crisis. But markets around the world, including in the U.S. these last two weeks, are forecasting something more sinister. The eight-day decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapped Wednesday with a paltry almost … Continue reading Stocks End Streak Of Consecutive Down Days
The Wall Street Journal – S&P Still Mum on U.S. Credit Rating Standard & Poor’s finds itself the center of attention as the lone major ratings company that hasn’t ruled on its credit rating for the U.S. following Tuesday’s debt deal. … The key question on many market participants’ minds is whether that shortfall will… Continue reading Still No Word From S&P
The Wall Street Journal – Ex-Fed Officials Back More Stimulus The Federal Reserve should consider a new round of securities purchases to spur the economy if growth and employment keep languishing and inflation recedes, former top Fed officials said in a roundtable with The Wall Street Journal. The comments by Donald Kohn, Vincent Reinhart and… Continue reading Odds Of QE3 On The Rise
The Wall Street Journal – Treasury’s T-bill Supply Plan May Bring Pain A Treasury Department announcement Wednesday that it will restrain the sale of certain Treasury bills has given an added boost to the short-dated U.S. government bond market, handing gains to those who had bought into it but pain to investors in other markets… Continue reading More Stress At The Short End Of The Curve
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Signs of Stress on the Rise Across Europe The European sovereign-debt crisis placed new strains on the Continent’s banks on Wednesday amid signs that some lenders are finding it harder and more expensive to fund themselves. The cash crunch for some European Union banks… Continue reading European Stress Continues
The Wall Street Journal – How White House Wooed Wall Street in Debt Debate This week’s vote to avert a debt-ceiling crisis brought together a variety of uneasy political alliances. But few were as fraught with tension as the one between Wall Street and the Obama administration. Often at odds since the financial crisis, banks… Continue reading The White House & Wall Street