Charts of the Week Topics Covered This Week Include: Mid-Term Election Update Q3 Earnings: Gamed And Useless Statistics Are IPOs Booming? Does Volume Equal Conviction? U.S. Companies Cash Hoard, Is It Too Much? U.S. Companies Cash Hoard, Is It Too Much? -2 Updating The Federal Reserve’s Balance Sheet QE2 Will Not Lead To A Surge… Continue reading Untitled
The Wall Street Journal – JON HILSENRATH And JONATHAN CHENG: Fed Gears Up for Stimulus Eyes Gradual Bond Buying of Several Hundred Billion Dollars; Doubts Linger. The central bank is likely to unveil a program of U.S. Treasury bond purchases worth a few hundred billion dollars over several months, a measured approach in contrast to… Continue reading QE2
With the November 3 FOMC meeting now less than a week away, many are wondering if the Federal Reserve will utilize a “Shock and Awe” approach and announce $500 billion in Treasury purchases or a more moderate “Flow Approach” and announce $100 billion in Treasury purchases a month subject to frequent review and further approval,… Continue reading Fed Politics Around QE2 – Shock and Awe Or A $100 Billion Flow?
Comment The charts below shows the latest election odds according to InTrade betting (updated in the right-hand column). Since late June, InTrade has expected the Republicans to retake control of the House of Representatives while the Democrats are narrowly expected to retain control of the Senate. Since we view InTrade as a good summation of… Continue reading 2010 Mid-Term Election Update
Bloomberg.com – Mortgages to Drop Below $1 Trillion in 2011 to Least Since 1996 Home lending in the U.S. will fall below $1 trillion next year to the lowest level since 1996, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Originations will decline to $996 billion in 2011, from a projected total of $1.4 trillion this year,… Continue reading Mortgages In 2011
<Click on chart for larger image> <Click on chart for larger image> The New York Times – U.S. Companies Hoarding Almost $1 Trillion Cash: Moody’s U.S. companies are hoarding almost $1 trillion in cash but are unlikely to spend on expanding their business and hiring new employees due to continuing uncertainty about the strength of… Continue reading U.S. Companies Cash Hoard, Is It Too Much?
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Home Prices Show Weakness U.S. home prices were weaker in August, according to the S&P Case-Shiller home-price indexes, as effects from the expiration of a government tax credit continued to wear off. Separately, U.S. consumer confidence improved in October, but remained at historically low… Continue reading Home Prices Weaker In August
Zero Hedge (Blog) – A Quick Glance At Real World Inflation The Casey Report provides a useful glance at the real inflation currently ravaging items that are actually purchased by Americans, not those captured by the Fed’s BLS statistics: “On average, our basic food costs have increased by an incredible 48% over the last year… Continue reading Commodity Inflation
MarketBeat (WSJ Blog) – Which Banks Have Mortgage Risk?: An Analyst Estimates It’s no secret that Bank of America has been hammered by the foreclosure fiasco and the related worries that banks are going to be forced to buy back bad mortgage-backed securities both from Fannie and Freddie — so-called agencies — and from other… Continue reading Banks And The Foreclosure Mess
Telegraph.uk (UK) – Greece reignites Europe debt woes Europe’s debt woes have returned to the fore after Greek premier George Papandreou threw open the door to fresh elections and vowed to liberate the nation from “slavery and surveillance”. Yields on 10-year Greek bonds jumped 31 basis points to 9.57pc and the euro tumbled 2 cents… Continue reading Greece
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The Wall Street Journal – Buffett: Combs Is ‘a 100% Fit’ The new heir apparent to Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s roughly $100 billion investment portfolio came to the job the old-fashioned way: He applied for it. Wall Street was still agog Tuesday about Warren Buffett’s selection of Todd Combs, a little-known 39-year-old fund manager who is… Continue reading Buffet Chooses His Successor