The Wall Street Journal – Split in Economy Keeps Lid on Prices “The pace of consumer price increases in the U.S. is quickening after being dormant for months. But a tug of war between the prices of goods and the prices of services, playing out beneath the surface, could keep inflation from becoming the worry… Continue reading Inflation
The Economist – America’s Budget – America’s budget: The latest cop-out Barack Obama has ducked the challenge of grappling with America’s medium-term deficit woes IMAGINE you have developed a serious weight problem. Things have been going badly for you, and as a result you have been piling on the pounds; in the past three years… Continue reading The Budget Deficit
The Economist – Ireland’s troubles: Irish mist The government elected next week should stick to pro-growth policies THE story of Ireland is like a fairy tale: from rags to riches and back to rags again. Twenty-five years ago Ireland was mired in a deep peat bog of slow growth, high emigration and shocking poverty. Then… Continue reading Europe
The Economist – The European Central Bank: The Italian’s job The next president of the world’s second-most-important central bank should be Mario Draghi EUROPE’S policymakers have a remarkable capacity to worsen their economic pain with self-inflicted wounds. Earlier this month bickering at a Brussels summit unsettled financial markets and sent bond spreads soaring. Now the… Continue reading Draghi For ECB
Reuters – James Saft: No jam today or tomorrow for Britain Poor Mervyn King — damned if he doesn’t raise interest rates, futile if he does. The Bank of England governor is in the unenviable position of having to steer interest rate policy during a period when living standards are being battered, his inflation target… Continue reading What Does The BOE Do?
Bloomberg.com – Fed’s Hoenig Says Farmland Boom May Be ‘Unsustainable Bubble’ Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Thomas Hoenig said soaring farmland prices may be the result of an unsustainable bubble that could damage the U.S. economy when it bursts. “My nagging concern remains that current distortions in financial markets are increasing the risk… Continue reading Farmland
The New York Sun – Lawrence Kudlow: Fed, Lately a Friend of Stock Market, May Become a Foe But some new information raises a question mark about the longevity of rising profits. Namely, producer prices — which used to be called wholesale prices — are now rising much faster than consumer prices. In other words,… Continue reading Margin Squeeze
CNN Money – How the middle class became the underclass The 1980s was a period of anti-regulation, presided over by President Reagan, who loosened rules governing banks and thrifts. A major game changer came during the Clinton era, when barriers between commercial and investment banks, enacted during the post-Depression era, were removed.In 2000, the Commodity… Continue reading The Middle Class
Rolling Stone – Matt Taibbi: Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail? The major federal agency on the Wall Street beat is the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC watches for violations like insider trading, and also deals with so-called “disclosure violations” — i.e., making sure that all the financial information that publicly traded companies are… Continue reading Wall Street
None Today
Comment We Recently Received The Following Question In Regards To Our Comments On Inflation Break-evens I am really confused by your assertions about inflation expectations. Are you using the 5-year inflation break-even rate or the 5yr/5yr forward inflation break-even rate? I show 5-year nominal yields up about 135 bps since November 3 and that 5-year… Continue reading Yes, Mr. Bernanke, TIPS Break-evens Say Inflation Expectations Are Rising
The Globe & Mail – Global investors flooding into equities again A wave of cash is overcoming a wall of worry in the world’s stock markets, as a massive shift of investment capital is fuelling a market rally that has doubled the value of global equities in less than two years…In the United States, too,… Continue reading Mutual Fund Flows