The Financial Times – Why ETFs give an uneasy sense of déjà vu Last month, the FSB issued a small advisory report entitled “Potential financial stability issues arising from recent trends in Exchange-Traded Funds”. Unsurprisingly, this did not cause a storm. After all, ETFs seem as dull as ditchwater to most politicians; almost as boring… Continue reading ETFs: The Vehicle Of Choice For Evil Speculators?
The Wall Street Journal – Expect the Fed to Hum Same Old Tune For years, the Fed appeared all-knowing and all-powerful. Starting in the early 1980s with Paul Volcker’s rate increases, it managed to subdue inflation and bolster the public’s faith in its ability to keep price rises in check. At the same time, the… Continue reading The Federal Reserve
USA Today – Improving job market ignites sharp rise in apartment rents Apartment rents are rising at their fastest pace in years as the U.S. economy creates jobs and spurs demand for rental housing Nationwide, rents started edging up last year after several years of little growth or even declines, market researcher Reis says. It… Continue reading Rising Apartment Rents Point To Higher Inflation
Smart Money – What’s Gen X So Scared Of? Stocks Financial advisers generally recommend that Gen Xers – those 50 million or so Americans now in their 30s and early 40s – have at least 70% of their retirement portfolios in stocks. But according to data from several investment and research firms, many Gen Xers… Continue reading No “Stocks For The Long Run” For Generation X
The Financial Times – Lessons for exchanges in oil’s ‘flash crash’ Over the next few weeks the market will look for its real level. In the meantime, the rout leaves some lessons: oil markets lack effective “circuit breakers” and daily fluctuations limits to manage a panic sell-off, like the one witnessed on Thursday. The New… Continue reading Crude Oil’s “Flash Crash”
The Financial Times – Fears linger of new ‘flash crash’ In the space of just 20 minutes a year ago on Friday, Wall Street tumbled hundreds of points, dumbfounding dealers, only to rebound sharply. The extraordinary gyration in stocks, dubbed the “flash crash”, stunned investors and revealed gaping holes in the equity market’s structure… Yet… Continue reading Happy Birthday Flash Crash!
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Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Retail Gas Prices Approach $4.00/Gallon The Fed Still Doesn’t Have A Roadmap For Its Exit Strategy The Fed Still Doesn’t Have A Roadmap For Its Exit Strategy Sell In May And Go Away Medium Term Inflation Expectations Long-Term Inflation Expectations Long-Term Inflation Expectations – 2 Nominal… Continue reading Untitled
The Wall Street Journal – Silver Slips Below $40, Spooks Other Markets Silver plunged for a third consecutive day, ending below $40 for the first time in almost a month as investors continued to bail out of the market due to higher trading costs. Silver prices have lost 19% since Friday, when CME Group Inc.… Continue reading Could The Real Contrarian Bet In Silver Be A Long Position?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Analysis: Will Costs Drive Firms Home? For years, the U.S. manufacturing sector seems to have been sliding into the Slough of Despond. Companies have been eagerly outsourcing to lower-cost venues such as China, India and Mexico. And with the production go jobs. Occasionally a… Continue reading Manufacturing In The U.S.
The Wall Street Journal – Dollar’s Drop Merits Attention, Not Panic Big picture: The dollar today is lower than at any time since major currencies began floating in 1973. It is 13% lower than it was 30 years ago and 28% below its 2002 recent peak… If everyone believes the dollar is on a long-term… Continue reading The Dollar’s Slide Continues
The New York Times – Debt Ceiling Has Some Give, Until Roof Falls In The federal government will not run short of money to pay its bills on May 16, when the federal debt reaches the legal maximum of $14.3 trillion. Even after Aug. 2, the deadline the Treasury Department set this week for Congress… Continue reading The Debt Ceiling