Bloomberg.com – Caroline Baum: Bernanke Is Panned by Palin, Cheered by Faux Fed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is taking flak from international policy types for his latest foray into quantitative easing. He had to defend his actions to economists and former policy makers at a Jekyll Island, Georgia, conference last week. He even had… Continue reading College Students Love Bernanke
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Comment This past Monday (November 8th) was the last scheduled POMO (Permanent Open Market Operations). However, today at 2PM ET the Federal Reserve will announce its schedule for the rest of November. Given that the Federal Reserve now has to buy $110 billion a month ($35 billion in re-invested mortgage coupons and $75 billion in… Continue reading The New POMO Schedule Comes Out Today
The Wall Street Journal – Ben Bernanke’s Impossible Dream Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may be an excellent economist, but he is not a very good bond salesman. Since his Aug. 27 speech at an annual Fed symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyo., he’s been telling us that he thinks inflation is too low and long-term… Continue reading Will There Be A Wealth Effect?
The American Independent – MI: Number of jobless losing benefits higher than projected On October 22, we reported on a study from the National Employment Law Project that concluded that 1.2 million unemployed Americans would lose their unemployment insurance benefits after Nov. 30 if Congress does not allocate new funds to extend those benefits. The… Continue reading Is Walmart A Leading Indicator For Claims?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Gold Prices Hit Record High on Sovereign-Debt Fears Spot-gold prices Tuesday hit record highs for a fourth day running on renewed worries of European sovereign-debt defaults. The precious metal peaked at $1,422.45 a troy ounce, and was recently trading at $1,418.20 a troy ounce,… Continue reading Gold Continues Its Climb
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Daniel Gros: Euro Crisis Enters New Phase With Credit Squeeze The life-support system for Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain is now under threat. The highly indebted nations of the euro area can’t survive the deficit crisis without access to central-bank credit. Last month’s Franco-German agreement at Deauville,… Continue reading European CDS
Real Time Economics (WSJ Blog) – Should Economists Just Stick to Core Inflation? Making a point about why most economists look at core measures when gauging inflation, Paul Krugman runs a chart on his blog of the year-over-year change in the consumer price index with and without food and energy. It looks like this: As… Continue reading Core vs. Headline CPI
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Corporate Issuance Floods the Market U.S. companies flooded the investment-grade market with at least $10 billion of new bonds, taking advantage of low interest rates, high investor demand and generally robust earnings. More than a dozen borrowers said they were preparing debt offerings Monday,… Continue reading Corporate Issuance
MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Dow Theory (Mostly) Blinking Green Last Thursday marked a big Dow Theory day, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Dow Jones Transports both closing above their Spring highs…The Dow Theory is the oldest chart-reading mechanism around, initiated by Charles Dow in the late 1800s. The theory is simple. If… Continue reading Dow Theory
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Fed Global Backlash Grows Global controversy mounted over the Federal Reserve’s decision to pump billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, with President Barack Obama defending the move as China, Russia and the euro zone added to a chorus of criticism. Mr. Obama returned… Continue reading Bernanke Must Deal With Global Opposition…
Associated Press – Fed official raises doubts over bond-purchase plan A Federal Reserve official with close ties to Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed doubts Monday about whether the Fed’s new $600 billion bond-purchase program would succeed in boosting the economy. Kevin Warsh, a Fed governor, also warned of “significant risks” associated with the program, including the… Continue reading … As Well As Opposition Within The Federal Reserve