<Click on chart for larger image> The Associated Press – 2 years after market low, the little guy is back As a historic bull market reaches its second birthday, everyday investors are piling back into stocks, finally ready for more risk and hoping the rally has further to go.The Standard & Poor’s 500 index has… Continue reading Are Retail Investors Putting Their Money Back Into Stocks?
The Wall Street Journal – Crude-Oil Prices Rise Toward a Break Point Oil at $100 a barrel certainly hurts. But the $120 threshold is where consumer and business behavior may really change.That price level for crude futures, if sustained, is seen as roughly the break point for U.S. demand, according to Deutsche Bank. And it… Continue reading Crude Oil
The Financial Times – US Treasuries: who will buy in June? There is more to both analyses than short-term supply and demand. One consideration is the current extraordinary steepness of the yield curve, which serves as a sort of anchor for longer-dated Treasuries. Mr Gross admits that but counters that, persistently low overnight rates or… Continue reading What Is The Fair Value For Treasuries?
MarketWatch.com – Paul Farrell: The 2008 crash isn’t over, only covered up The Reaganomics Brain that’s ruled America for the past generation is making a swift comeback as the dominant political ideology favored by Wall Street. Last week Bloomberg news put this dangerous resurgence in the spotlight, in effect confirming that the worst of the… Continue reading Covering Up The 2008 Crash
Bloomberg.com – Europe May Face More Ratings Cuts, Greek Default, Standard & Poor’s Says Some countries in the euro region may have their credit ratings cut further while a Greece debt default is a “possibility,” said Moritz Kraemer, managing director of European sovereign ratings at Standard & Poor’s. Asked if the worst was over for… Continue reading Europe Is Still In Trouble
The Wall Street Journal – Medley Report: Fed Will Next Week Continue QE2, But ‘Grow Restless’ On Commitment To Low Rates The Federal Reserve will continue with its large-scale asset purchases, but some members of its policymaking committee are likely to “grow restless” on an open-ended commitment to ultralow rates, a think tank report said… Continue reading QE2
Comment Yesterday CNBC interviewed David Greenberg of Sterling Commodities (starting at 2:30). He is also a former member of the New York Mercantile Exchange’s executive committee. Greenberg asserted that, because there are now so many more players in the crude oil market, there is an increased amount of speculation. No doubt he was referring to… Continue reading It’s A Macro World, Not A Speculative World
The Wall Street Journal – (February 24) – James K. Glassman: Why I Was Wrong About ‘Dow 36,000’ The world has changed since 1999. U.S. economic standing is now declining, and we have to account for risks not only to commerce but to the global order. In 1999, I co-authored a book called “Dow 36,000”… Continue reading Dow 36,000 Was An Error!
<Click on chart for larger image> Zero Hedge (Blog) –Portuguese Bond Yields, Greek CDS Both At All Time Wides Not sure what rumor can be spread to unspook the market into believing all is well here, but the widely expected March deterioration in Europe which nobody wants to talk about, is happening just as predicted:… Continue reading European CDS
Bloomberg.com – Fed Presidents Signal No Urgency to Expand $600 Billion Bond Purchase Plan Three Federal Reserve district bank presidents expressed little need to expand $600 billion in bond purchases any time soon, while differing over whether to end the central bank’s record stimulus early. Dallas Fed President Richard W. Fisher said yesterday he may… Continue reading More Arguing Over When To End QE2
<Click on chart for larger image> Washington Times – Government posts biggest monthly deficit ever The federal government posted its largest monthly deficit in history in February at $223 billion, according to preliminary numbers the Congressional Budget Office released Monday morning. That figure tops last February’s record of $220.9 billion, and marks the 29th straight… Continue reading The Deficit