Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum:Blankfein, Palin Toy With New Year’s Resolutions Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., resolves to perfect his Wallace Shawn imitation so that the next time he’s called to testify before Congress, the audience will take him seriously. Ben Bernanke promises to cut up his U.S.A. credit… Continue reading 2011 Resolutions, Predictions
The Wall Street Journal – Pork Bellies Now ‘Nontrading Places’ “For a contract to be successful, you have to have fund participation” from hedge funds and commodity funds, said Dan Norcini, an independent livestock trader in Idaho who has been trading commodities for more than 20 years. “There’re not enough volumes for them to move… Continue reading Nobody Is Trading Pork Bellies
Bloomberg.com – U.S. Retailers’ Holiday Sales Increase 5.5%, Most Since 2005 U.S. retailers’ 2010 holiday sales jumped 5.5 percent for the best performance in five years as shoppers snapped up clothing and jewelry at Macy’s Inc., Tiffany & Co. and other stores. Retail sales, excluding autos, rose to $584 billion from Nov. 5 through Dec.… Continue reading Holiday Sales
The Wall Street Journal – Roy Neuberger: Death of the 107-Year-Old Money Manager Roy Neuberger, a founder of money management firm Neuberger Berman, died over the long holiday weekend at age 107. That was not a typo. Neuberger was remarkable both for his longevity, and for his status as a pioneer of mutual funds and… Continue reading Roy Neuberger Dies
Bloomberg.com – Greece Leads Rise in Sovereign Debt Risk on Restructuring Bets Greece unofficially informed European Union officials and the European Central Bank that after 2013 it will seek an extension on all outstanding debt and a reduction in interest, Ta Nea newspaper reported, without citing anyone. No cut in the face value of the… Continue reading A Greece Default Will PROBABLY Be Positive?
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The Wall Street Journal – For Tough Fed Call, Even Hindsight Is Not 20-20 The world has changed since the Federal Reserve decided in November to purchase an additional $600 billion of U.S. Treasury bonds to give the U.S. economy a lift. The U.S. economy looks stronger. The government is unexpectedly cutting taxes. The Fed… Continue reading The Federal Reserve Looks At The Evidence Again And Concludes It Was Right All Along
The Wall Street Journal – Stock Investors Look on the Bright Side The debt situation in Europe is deteriorating. Inflation threatens to derail emerging-market economies. And the U.S. faces a potential time bomb with its own sizable debt. Yet in the face of all these hazards, the stock market is hitting two-year highs and investors… Continue reading Stocks Have No More “Wall Of Worry” To Climb
The Associated Press – Surge of money from bonds could stifle lending A sudden shift in saving habits could spell trouble for borrowers as Americans exit bond funds Americans are leaving bond mutual funds at the fastest rate in more than two years. U.S. investors pulled $8.6 billion out of bond funds in the week… Continue reading More On The Start Of The Great Bond Exodus
<Click on chart for larger image> Zero Hedge (Blog) – Europe Opens With A Mini Flash Crash An extremely nervous market drops hard and I fear that this morning we saw another mini flash-crash. The low volume of Christmas, compounded by the closed London market, and negligible volume, is making program trading far more obvious.… Continue reading One Last Flash Crash For The Year
The Wall Street Journal – Strapped Cities Hit Nonprofits With Fees Facing budget gaps and an aversion to new debt and taxes, states and local governments are slapping residents with an array of new fees—and some are applying them to nonprofits. That marks a sharp departure from long-standing tax exemptions mandated by state law or… Continue reading Municipal Finances
The Wall Street Journal – Bailed-Out Banks Slip Toward Failure Number of Shaky Lenders Rises to 98 as Bad Loans Pile Up; Smaller Institutions Hit Hardest Nearly 100 U.S. banks that got bailout funds from the federal government show signs they are in jeopardy of failing. The total, based on an analysis of third-quarter financial… Continue reading Banking Issues