<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Wall Street Dumps Most Treasuries Since 2004 on Growth Wall Street banks are cutting their holdings of Treasuries at the fastest pace since 2004 as the world’s biggest bond firms bet that the economy will strengthen and demand for higher-yielding assets will increase. The 18 primary dealers… Continue reading Primary Dealers’ Holdings Of Treasuries
<Click on chart for larger image> Reuters – Germany and France want Portugal to accept aid – report Germany and France want Portugal to accept an international bailout as soon as possible in order to prevent its debt crisis spreading to other countries, German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Without citing its sources, the… Continue reading Now It’s Portugal’s Turn (Get Ready Spain?)
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> The Telegraph (UK) – Debt default fears will spread to US and Japan, warns Citigroup’s Willem Buiter Fears about the finances of eurozone nations will spread around the world to engulf the US and Japan, former Bank of England policy maker Willem Buiter… Continue reading More Debt Default Worries
The Wall Street Journal – Fears Mount Over European Debt, Banks The new year is off to a rough start for Europe, and strategists expect more trouble ahead as European governments prepare to tap the bond markets to borrow money. The euro fell 3.4% last week against the U.S. dollar and is now at its… Continue reading European Debt Problems Never Go Away
Stock Trader’s Almanac – Positive Readings from Early Indicators Bode Well for Full-Year 2011 2011 has gotten off to a bullish start with a respectable Santa Claus Rally and a positive First Five Days. Santa delivered a 1.1% S&P 500 gain and the First Five a 1.1% gain. Today’s non-farm payroll report is another encouraging… Continue reading The First Week Of The Year Offers No Insight
The New York Times – Market Predictions, With Many Grains of Salt IT was such a comforting forecast: By the end of the calendar year, a steady stream of corporate profits would extend the stock market’s long-term rally, raising the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index by more than 12 percent, plus dividends. That was the… Continue reading Year-End Forecasts Are Useless
The Wall Street Journal – Profits Face Headwinds But barring an unexpected acceleration in the economy, industries such as airlines, food, construction and telecommunications that have lagged the recovery, could remain under pressure. The airline industry, for instance, just posted its first full year of profit in four years, but now faces sharply higher costs… Continue reading Corporate Profits
Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: Some Manure, Please, So I Can `Grow the Economy’ President Barack Obama talks a lot about growing the economy and grows the government instead. Government outlays as a share of gross domestic product rose to a post-World War II high of 25.4 percent last year. After two years of vilifying banks,… Continue reading Growing The Economy
The Wall Street Journal – Bernanke Rejects Bailouts Fed Chief Says State and Local Governments Shouldn’t Expect Federal Loans Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday ruled out a central bank bailout of state and local governments strapped with big municipal debt burdens, saying the Fed had limited legal authority to help and little will… Continue reading Muni Woes
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Freight Rates Poised to Tumble as 35-Mile Line of Ships Passes Coal Demand At a time when analysts anticipate record profits for the biggest mining companies and a third year of gains in commodity prices, shipping lines carrying raw materials are set for the lowest freight rates… Continue reading Freight Rates
<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Inflation fears put investors on the defensive Inflationary pressures are building around the world, posing a dilemma for investors and prompting an increase in demand for bonds that offer protection against rising prices. From the developed economies of the US and Europe to emerging markets… Continue reading Inflation Fears
The New York Times – GRETCHEN MORGENSON: Massachusetts Ruling on Foreclosures Is a Warning to Banks The highest court in Massachusetts ruled Friday that U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo erred when they seized two troubled borrowers’ properties in 2007, putting the nation’s banks on notice that foreclosures cannot be based on improper or incomplete paperwork.… Continue reading Mortgage Foreclosures, Who Owns The Note?