<Click on chart for larger image> The Financial Times – Equities edge back in fashion The lure of returns may be enough to entice individual investors back to the US stock market next year for the first time since the financial crisis. For the past two years, investors have fled equities. New US money invested… Continue reading Stock Flows vs. Bond Flows
Bloomberg.com – Bond Upgrades Top Downgrades at S&P as Cash Hoards Swell More U.S. companies had their credit ratings boosted by Standard & Poor’s this year than saw them cut for the first time since 1997 as borrowers increased profits and stockpiled cash. … About half of non-financial companies upgraded by S&P were rated in… Continue reading The Ratings Agencies
The Wall Street Journal – Building Wall Street Bonds John Mica wants more debt subsidies A major Republican victory in the recent tax deal with the White House was the refusal to extend the Build America Bond (BAB) program. But Wall Street needn’t fear. Republican Congressman John Mica recently said that “I can almost guarantee”… Continue reading Will BABs Live On?
The New York Times – In the Rearview, a Year That Fizzled It was the year that the economy started to recover and then slid back into a slump — only to offer reason for renewed hope in the final weeks. When 2010 began, hiring and consumer spending were finally picking up. But then something… Continue reading A Look Back At Job Growth In 2010
None Today
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal –As Ireland Flails, Europe Lurches Across the Rubicon The agreements had left a loose end: Portugal. Lisbon is widely seen as next in line for a bailout, because of its gaping budget deficit and chronically weak economic growth. Several participants at the Nov. 28 finance… Continue reading Europe
The Financial Times – Non-US banks gain from Fed crisis fund Some of the world’s strongest banks have profited from an emergency credit facility set up by the US Federal Reserve to shore up confidence in the global financial system, according to a Financial Times analysis of data released by the Fed. More than half… Continue reading Foreign Banks Benefited From The Federal Reserve’s Term Auction Facility
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Illinois Default Insurance Cost Rises as Weak States Punished: Muni Credit The cost of insuring Illinois’s bonds against default rose to the highest level in five months as the state headed for the new year without a plan to finance a $3.7 billion pension-fund contribution. The cost… Continue reading Munis
The Wall Street Journal – Marc Sumerlin: The Fed’s Dual Mandate Is Not the Problem Greatly concerned about the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program, many conservative members of Congress are actively talking about changing the central bank’s dual legal mandate—keeping its mission to promote price stability but removing its requirement to promote maximum employment. With… Continue reading The Federal Reserve
Telegraph.co.uk (UK) – The UK inflation genie is out of the bottle I’m a natural optimist and don’t wish to upset anyone’s Boxing Day celebrations. Any commentator worth their salt, though, at times like this, should ignore such sensitivities. It would be wrong – reckless, in fact, given the slew of recent bad data –… Continue reading Inflation In The U.K.
<Click on chart for larger image> Cnbc.com – Can the Stock Market Have a ‘Home-Less’ Recovery? The stock market rallied amid zero or negative job growth in 1991, 2002 and during the current bull market. A so-called jobless recovery has become part of Wall Street vernacular. However, the stock market never had to keep rallying… Continue reading Home Prices Update
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Price of Silver Soaring The recent price increase has been fueled by other factors in addition to investor interest. For instance, China recently abolished an exports tax rebate on metals. That has resulted in a 59% decline in silver exports. China is a major… Continue reading Price of Silver Soars