<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Merkel, Ackermann Feud Over Managing Sovereign Debt Crisis The leader of Europe’s biggest economy and the head of Germany’s largest bank, partners in a financial rescue two years ago, are rattling investors with their feud about how to manage the sovereign-debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and… Continue reading European Sovereign Debt
Comstock Partners – Normal Recovery? No Way As was true when we did a similar study about four months ago, the results are very clear that the current recovery is far weaker than the prior two expansionary periods, which themselves were below the average of other post-war expansions. The results are summarized as follows. 1)… Continue reading Is This A Normal Recovery?
The Wall Street Journal – Geithner: Global Inflation ‘Not High on List of Concerns’ Inflation on a global level is “not high on the list of concerns,” even though emerging markets across the world are certainly “feeling some pressure,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Friday. Mr. Geithner told the World Economic Forum in a… Continue reading Geithner: Global Inflation Is Not A Concern
The Associated Press – Bill Gross sees dangers in the debt-limit debate The world’s largest bond investor says the fight over raising the country’s borrowing limit threatens to throw the debt market into a tailspin. “It’s the wrong way to do it,” says Bill Gross, manager of the $241 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, the… Continue reading Bill Gross Speaks
Bloomberg.com – Jonathan Weil: Wall Street’s Collapse to Be Mystery Forever To get to the heart of what went wrong with the report released yesterday by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, check out its account on page 254 of how the largest investor in a cash fund managed by Bank of America suddenly pulled out… Continue reading What Caused The Financial Crisis?
The Wall Street Journal – Trader Racks Up a Second Epic Gain Hedge-fund manager John Paulson personally netted more than $5 billion in profits in 2010—likely the largest one-year haul in investing history, trumping the nearly $4 billion he made with his “short” bets against subprime mortgages in 2007. Mr. Paulson’s take, described by investors… Continue reading More On John Paulson In 2010
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FOMC0126 The Wall Street Journal – Unanimous Fed Keeps Buying Bonds The Federal Reserve, acknowledging a slow recovery and stubbornly high unemployment, decided Wednesday to proceed with its plans to buy as much as $600 billion in long-term Treasury bonds as it awaits a stronger pickup in growth. The decision was unanimous, marking the first… Continue reading The FOMC Meeting
<Click on chart for larger image> MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Yes, Investors are Still Dumping Munis Whether it’s the media’s fault or not, investors in municipal market funds are still rushing for the exits. Check out the latest numbers from the Investment Company Institute, a trade group for mutual funds, for the week ended last… Continue reading Muni Outflows Set A New Weekly Record
The Wall Street Journal – Why You Can’t Trust the Inflation Numbers A surprising number of people on Wall Street will tell you not to worry too much about inflation. After all, they’ll say, just look at the numbers. The inflation picture is incredibly benign. In the past 12 months the Consumer Price Index has… Continue reading Phony Inflation Numbers
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Deficit Outlook Darkens The federal budget deficit will reach a record of nearly $1.5 trillion in 2011 due to the weak economy, higher spending and fresh tax cuts, congressional budget analysts said, in a stark warning that will drive the growing battle over government… Continue reading The Deficit
The Financial Times – Take Fannie and Freddie off the road What does a failed mortgage giant have to do to get some attention these days? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have cost the US taxpayer $150bn and the bill could rise to at least twice that. Yet reform was not included in the Dodd-Frank… Continue reading Fannie & Freddie