The Wall Street Journal – GOP Aim: Cut $4 Trillion Budget Plan Would Transform Medicare, Reset Budget Debate; Democrats Balk Republicans will present this week a 2012 budget proposal that would cut more than $4 trillion from federal spending projected over the next decade and transform the Medicare health program for the elderly, a move… Continue reading GOP And The Budget
The Financial Times – ECB criticised over expected rate rise The European Central Bank faces an international backlash this week, when, in spite of the eurozone debt crisis, it is expected to raise interest rates and to consider ways of weaning the weakest banks off its offers of unlimited liquidity. Plans by the ECB to… Continue reading Will The ECB Raise Rates This Week?
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The Wall Street Journal – Fed Official Sees Higher Rates by Year End The president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank said Thursday the Fed may need to increase short-term interest rates by year end if underlying inflation rises as he anticipates. Narayana Kocherlakota, in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street… Continue reading Systemically Significant Positions
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Bernanke Cash Drives Junk Bond Underwriting Frenzy An unprecedented number of investment banks are vying to underwrite a record amount of junk bonds as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke succeeds in driving cash to the neediest U.S. borrowers. JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) led 42 firms… Continue reading Bond Issuance
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Saudi Government’s Break-Even Oil Price Rises $20 In A Year Another reason to brace for higher oil prices in coming years: big oil exporters are increasingly dependent on the income. Saudi Arabia, due to higher government spending this year, will need its oil to… Continue reading Saudi Oil
CNBC – Traders Worry That April 27 Could Derail the Bull Market Traders are saying the scariest moment of the second quarter will be on April 27, when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will hold the first ever press briefing following a monetary policy decision by the central bank. This change in the Fed’s communication… Continue reading Will Bernanke’s Big Fat Mouth Make Everyone Poor?
The Christian Science Monitor – Robert Reich’s Blog: Heading for a double dip Nobody in Washington or Wall Street wants to admit it, but the economy is leaning toward another plunge Why aren’t Americans being told the truth about the economy? We’re heading in the direction of a double dip – but you’d never know… Continue reading Robert Reich Revives “Double-Dip”
The Economist – The euro zone’s periphery: They’re bust. Admit it Greece, Ireland and Portugal should restructure their debts now IT IS a measure of European politicians’ capacity for self-delusion that Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, called the euro-zone summit on March 24th-25th a “big step forward” in solving the region’s debt crisis. Something between a… Continue reading Europe
The Wall Street Journal – Subprime Bonds Are Back As Economy Recovers, Long-Term Investors Willing to Take On More Risks Subprime and other residential mortgage bonds that helped trigger the financial crisis are back in vogue with long-term investors, in the latest sign that American credit markets are healing after the worst downturn in a… Continue reading Subprime Is Back!
Bloomberg.com – Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s two-year fight to shield crisis-squeezed banks from the stigma of revealing their public loans protected a lender to local governments in Belgium, a Japanese fishing-cooperative financier and a company part-owned by the Central Bank of Libya.… Continue reading Borrowing From The Federal Reserve
Bloomberg.com – Gross Echoes Buffett Saying Treasuries Have ‘Little Value’ on Debt, Dollar Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said Treasuries “have little value” because of the growing U.S. debt burden. The U.S. has unrecorded debt of $75 trillion, or close to 500 percent of gross domestic… Continue reading Hating Bonds