MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Traders Heavily Short Treasurys Ahead of Rally I wrote earlier that nobody was listening to the way-too-early Bill Gross’s daily bond denigrations. Maybe I was wrong — speculative traders boosted their net short positions against the 10-year Treasury note last week to the highest levels since last August, according to data… Continue reading Traders Short Treasuries
The Wall Street Journal – Tumult? AIG’s ‘Re-IPO’ Remains on Go-Ahead The long-awaited $9 billion stock offering from American International Group Inc. and the U.S. Treasury is on track to price late Tuesday despite recent market weakness, people familiar with the matter said. But the market downturn appears to have dimmed the chances for AIG… Continue reading Good News Taxpayers – You Will Soon Only Own 75% Of AIG
Liberty Street Blog (New York Fed) – Historical Echoes: Communication before the Blog… Over the years, the Federal Reserve System has used many methods to communicate about the role it plays in support of stable prices, full employment, and financial stability. Current communication tools include the new press conferences by the Chairman, speeches by Bank… Continue reading Cartoons – Federal Reserve Edition
The Financial Times – Gold: the bubble’s popping will be nasty The following news flash will only be controversial to a small, eccentric but vocal slice of the gold investing world: the bullion that backs wildly popular gold exchange-traded funds is real. Ditto for what governments claim to hold. There is no vast conspiracy. What… Continue reading Gold
The Wall Street Journal – Number of the Week: 95 Days to Wipe Out 2011 Growth 95 — Days required to wipe out this year’s economic growth, if the U.S. doesn’t raise the federal debt limit. Lawmakers are setting the stage for some dramatic brinksmanship over whether to raise the federal debt limit. If they… Continue reading Debt Ceiling – 95 Days
<Click on chart for larger image> The New York Times – Despite Ban, Protests Continue Before Spanish Vote Tens of thousands of demonstrators across Spain continued sit-ins and other protests against the established political parties on Saturday. They did so in defiance of a ban against such protests and ahead of regional and municipal elections… Continue reading Europe
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<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Emerging market bond fund flows signal shift Money is continuing to pour into emerging market bond funds, subduing the cost of borrowing for developing countries and underlining the shift in economic power away from the western heavyweights of the financial system. Eight consecutive weeks of… Continue reading Emerging Market Bond Funds
The Chicago Tribune – Sinking values prompting homeowners to consider strategic default as best business decision Slight drop in strategic defaults unlikely to last as more people do the math, see they can’t recover and make a business decision to walk away from their mortgage, even if it ruins their credit Marty Likier is one… Continue reading Walking Away
The Wall Street Journal – Girls Just Want to Have Funds Women are a majority on college campuses and a growing force in the American workplace. But in survey after survey, they rate themselves as less confident—and less knowledgeable—about money and investing than men do. This disconnect can carry a steep potential price. Since they… Continue reading Investors Are From Mars
CNN/Money – Central bankers vs. Bill Gross Do central bankers have it in for the world’s most widely cited Treasury bond bear? Since the Fed’s latest round of bond buying started last November, BofA says, cash — mostly in the form of dollars — has been piling up in places like Brazil and India as… Continue reading The World Still Hates Bonds
The Economist – Taxation and earnings: The state’s take DEATH and taxes, it is said, are the only two certainties in life. One half of that thesis is proved at least by a new report released on May 11th by the OECD. The report splits out the tax burden on employment which is paid by… Continue reading Taxes Around The World