The Financial Times – Lex: Fed up Anger at the Fed is misplaced. As memories of the financial panic fade, it is easy to decry the huge sums dispensed and the variety of recipients. But the size and scope of the facilities only serve to underscore just how bad things really were. Had Ben Bernanke… Continue reading Federal Reserve Loans
The Financial Times – Lex: Rents and deflation History is to blame. In most countries around the world, rents have only increased during people’s lifetimes. Primary and owner-equivalent rents in the US, for example, have gone up by an average of 2.8 per cent over the past decade and by an average of almost 5… Continue reading Rents
None Today
Bloomberg.com – Unemployment Rises to 9.8% as U.S. Adds Just 39,000 Jobs Employers added fewer jobs than forecast in November and the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased, underscoring the Federal Reserve’s decision to pump more money into the economy to spur growth. Payrolls increased 39,000, less than the most pessimistic projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg… Continue reading Payrolls Disappoint
<Click on chart for larger image> Zero Hedge (blog) – S&P Vs Fed Treasury Holdings: Spot The Correlation When the Fed announced that MBS/agency purchases would be a part of QE1 way back in 2008, few were surprised. After all that was the easiest way to lower interest rates on mortgages: a topic that back… Continue reading POMO and Stocks
<Click on graphic for larger image> ProPublica – Bailout Recipients We’re tracking where taxpayer money has gone in the ongoing bailout of the financial system. Our database accounts for both the broader $700 billion bill and the separate bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Below is the list of companies to which Treasury has… Continue reading Are Government Bailouts Still Underwater By $330 Billion?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Economist – Repairing California: The tide begins to turn For once, California’s prospects seem better in the long term than in the short CALIFORNIA has changed direction this year. This is not because of a conservative backlash in the mid-term elections, for there wasn’t one—California bucked the national… Continue reading Is California Getting Better?
The Financial Times – Crisis-hit banks flooded Fed with junk Banks flooded the Federal Reserve with billions of dollars in “junk bonds” and other low-grade collateral in exchange for much-needed liquidity during the crisis, as the financial sector struggled under a crippling credit crunch, new data show. More than 36 per cent of the cumulative… Continue reading More Analysis Of The Federal Reserve’s Emergency Lending
The Associated Press – ECB extends special crisis measures European Central Bank extends special crisis measures, gives no sign bond buys will expand The European Central Bank stepped up efforts to contain the continent’s government debt crisis, as bank president Jean-Claude Trichet announced it would prolong measures to provide ready cash to banks and steady… Continue reading ECB Extends Special Measures
Bloomberg Business Week – Bernanke and Geithner Fight Back How the Federal Reserve chairman and Treasury Secretary are battling to defend the Fed’s latest moves—and preserve its independence On the morning of Nov. 4, two days after the midterm elections, Timothy Geithner was scheduled to fly to Kyoto for a dinner with Asian-Pacific finance ministers.… Continue reading Bernanke and Geithner
The New York Post – Scott S. Powell: The road to a US insolvency crisis Today’s auction of 10- and 30-year US Treasury notes and bonds won’t tell us as much about the US economy as auctions used to — because the Federal Reserve has started buying up the notes as part of Fed Chairman… Continue reading Is The U.S. Insolvent?
The New York Times – Floyd Norris: A Novel Way to Sidestep Investor Suits One of the great legal fictions of Wall Street is that mutual funds are independent of the companies that create and run them. It is true such funds have their own boards, nominally elected by fund shareholders, but in practice the… Continue reading Mutual Funds’ Relationship To Their Management Company