<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Home Prices Near Recession Low A closely watched gauge of home prices fell in February for the eighth month in a row, as the real-estate market continued to sink toward a low hit during the recession. The S&P/Case-Shiller 10-city and 20-city indexes both fell… Continue reading Home Prices Fall Again
<Click on chart for larger image> Money Morning (Blog) – It’s Time to Worry About the Death of the Dollar For the last two years, the U.S. economy has been supported by the twin catalysts of fiscal and monetary stimuli. Fiscal stimulus seems likely to continue for some time yet – even the most avid… Continue reading What Will Happen To The U.S. Dollar?
Pimco.com – The End of QEII: It’s Time to Make the Donuts •With quantitative easing the Federal Reserve has in essence picked the pockets of Treasury bond investors throughout the world. •Ultimately, the U.S. must own up to its past sins and let the deleveraging process play itself out. •The U.S. must invest in its… Continue reading Pimco Discusses The End Of Qe2
Cnn.com – Chicago: City of the big gas prices The average price for a gallon of gas in Chicago was $4.37 a gallon on Tuesday, according to data from price tracker gasbuddy.com. That’s more than what drivers pay in sprawling Los Angeles, where gas averaged $4.22 a gallon, and crowded New York City, where it’s… Continue reading Gas Prices In Chicago
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – S&P cuts Japanese outlook to negative CREDIT ratings agency Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services said today it has revised the outlook on its long-term rating on Japan to negative from stable, citing the risk of a downgrade if the country’s massive earthquake causes its… Continue reading Japan Is Downgraded
MarketWatch.com – Paul B Farrell:2008 crash deja vu: We’ll relive it, and soon Warning, the stars are aligning, again. Much faster. We’re repeating the run-up to the 2008 meltdown, leading up to the next election. Yes, another crash is coming, unavoidable, just like 2008. Not because our totally dysfunctional government is collapsing into anarchy, thanks… Continue reading Are We About To Repeat The 2008 Crash?
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Bloomberg.com – Dudley Seeing Interest on Reserves as Favored Tool Spurs Debate Federal Reserve officials are staking their inflation-fighting credibility on an untested tool: the power to pay interest on bank reserves. Congress granted the Fed this ability in 2008, and Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, Vice Chairman Janet Yellen and New York Fed President William… Continue reading Is Interest On Reserves A Meaningful Tool?
India Infoline News – US earnings…75% S&P 500 firms beat earnings expectations In the aggregate, companies are reporting earnings that are 8% above the estimates, which is above the 2% long-term average surprise factor but below the 9% surprise factor recorded over the past four quarters, Thomson Reuters said. Through April 21, 137 companies in… Continue reading Early Returns On Earnings Are Not That Exciting
The Wall Street Journal – Fed Sweating the Details of First News Conference The Federal Reserve is doing some careful stage planning for its first-ever public news conference Wednesday afternoon following a two-day policy meeting. Details that would be extremely mundane for most other institutions—such as who gets in, how Chairman Ben Bernanke should kick… Continue reading Finally We Get Some Details On Bernanke’s First News Conference (Note The Timeline Changes)
The Wall Street Journal – Bernanke’s Inflation Paradox The Fed said it wanted higher prices. Voila! The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee meets again today, and we suppose congratulations of a sort are in order. Last September, the committee declared that it wanted prices to rise more rapidly, and on that score it has succeeded.… Continue reading The Federal Reserve & Inflation
The Washington Post – Affordable rental housing scarce in U.S., study finds The share of renters who spend more than half their income on housing is at its highest level in half a century and it’s no longer just low-income tenants who are feeling the pain, according to a Harvard University study scheduled for release… Continue reading More Evidence Of Rising Rents