Bloomberg.com – William Pesek: Sugar Daddy’s $2.8 Trillion Saves the World It’s perhaps the most tantalizing question in economics: When will China’s yuan replace the dollar? Chinese President Hu Jintao delighted yuan bulls recently by calling the dollar-dominated world a “product of the past.” Oddly, though, his signature legacy will be solidifying the U.S. currency’s… Continue reading The Yuan vs. The Dollar
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – John Taylor Advocates Narrowing Fed Mandate Former U.S. Treasury Department undersecretary John Taylor on Wednesday called for overhauling the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate of ensuring stable prices and maximum employment, saying that the central bank should focus on prices. “It would be better for economic growth and job creation… Continue reading John Taylor Wants To Do Away With The Federal Reserve’s Dual Mandate
Bloomberg.com – Roubini Says U.S. Risks ‘Train Wreck’ From Bond Vigilante Wrath The U.S. will suffer a “train wreck” at the hands of bond investors if it fails to solve its budget problems, said Nouriel Roubini, the economist who predicted the financial crisis. “The fiscal problem is very serious,” he said in a Bloomberg Television… Continue reading Nouriel “Dr. Doom” Roubini Strikes Again
None Today
Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: The Muni Market And The Media The Muni Market And The Media – 2 Home Prices Continue To Fall Actual Inflation Versus Expected Inflation Total Return And Dividend Return Remain Unrelated Returns Unrelated To Cash Levels And Relative Dividend Yield Corporate Debt Levels And Monetary Policy… Continue reading Untitled
Bloomberg.com – Bernanke Gets 66% Approval From Investors Disliking QE2 Investors love Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. It’s just his policies they don’t like so much. Sixty-six percent of investors have a favorable view of the 57-year-old former Princeton University economist, compared with 31 percent unfavorable, according to a quarterly global poll of 1,000… Continue reading Bernanke And QE2
<Click on chart for larger image> Associated Press – Second wave of housing bust hammers more cities A second wave of falling home prices is battering some cities that had escaped the worst of the housing market bust. Prices in Seattle, Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., have hit their lowest points since peaking in 2006… Continue reading Home Prices Continue to Fall
The Wall Street Journal – Food-Price Rise Puts Focus on Speculators The run-up in global commodity prices is stirring debate in a number of countries over the role of financial speculators, a prospect that could fuel a regulatory backlash by governments keen to control food prices. The prices of many commodities undoubtedly would have risen… Continue reading Rising Food Prices
Bloomberg.com – Greece Default With Ireland Breaks Euro by 2016 in Global Poll Most global investors predict at least one nation will leave the euro-area within five years and that Greece and Ireland will default, sentiment that is intensifying pressure on policy makers to strengthen their response to the debt crisis. As the World Economic… Continue reading Pessimistic About Europe
CNBC.com – Dow 12,000? January Effect? Don’t Believe All the Hype “Most won’t invest just because the Dow is approaching the 12,000 mark. I hope anybody investing in the market and not using a financial advisor is looking at price compared to expected earnings,” said Beth Larson, principal at Evermay Wealth Management in Washington, D.C.… Continue reading Dow 12,000
The Wall Street Journal – Bondholders Left in the Dark Investors and regulators are growing increasingly concerned about the quality and timeliness of information that state and local governments are disclosing about their finances. The Securities and Exchange Commission is inquiring about public statements Illinois made about its pension funds amid the agency’s increased scrutiny… Continue reading Munis
The New York Times – Financial Crisis Was Avoidable, Inquiry Finds The 2008 financial crisis was an “avoidable” disaster caused by widespread failures in government regulation, corporate mismanagement and heedless risk-taking by Wall Street, according to the conclusions of a federal inquiry. The commission that investigated the crisis casts a wide net of blame, faulting… Continue reading What Caused The Financial Crisis?