<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – S&P 500 Profits Cut for First Time in Year by Analysts For the first time in more than a year analysts are cutting their forecasts for Standard & Poor’s 500 Index earnings, jeopardizing gains from the biggest September rally since World War II. Estimates for S&P 500… Continue reading Earnings Estimates
<Click on graphic for larger image> The New York Times – GRETCHEN MORGENSON: Count on Sequels to TARP THE government is pulling a sheet over TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program created during the panic of 2008 to bail out the nation’s financial institutions. With the program’s expiration on Sunday, we can expect to hear… Continue reading TARP
Barron’s – Brazil’s Red-Hot Bond Market With double-digit yields, Brazil’s government bonds are drawing strong interest from investors around the world. Time to jump in? BRAZILIAN STOCKS have been something of a disappointment this year, up just 1% and lagging behind the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Index. But the country’s bonds are another story. They… Continue reading Brazil
The Telegraph (UK) – Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: IMF admits that the West is stuck in near depression If you strip away the political correctness, Chapter Three of the IMF’s World Economic Outlook more or less condemns Southern Europe to death by slow suffocation and leaves little doubt that fiscal tightening will trap North Europe, Britain and… Continue reading The IMF Is Still Bearish
Barron’s – Micheal Santoli: Faster, Cheaper and Fairer A longtime market participant advocates having stocks trade in increments of five cents. Also, gold isn’t in bubble territory just yet. Take, for instance, a gentleman named Jim Maguire, who began working as a specialist on the New York Stock Exchange floor 60 years ago, who acted… Continue reading Stock Trading – Time For Nickels?
MSN/Money – Bill Fleckenstein: Is the US stumbling into a currency war? The Fed is weighing how to push more money into the economy, and, given the central bank’s record, that’s bad news for the dollar. Gold, anyone? As the country’s economic and financial woes refuse to recede, the worst-kept secret is that the Federal… Continue reading Is A Currency War Coming?
The New York Times – Robert J. Shiller: The Survival of the Safest It’s no surprise that business confidence has been shaken over the last few years. Executives are unwilling to take on new risks, and people in all walks of life are nervous about trusting in one another. In a broad sense, damage to… Continue reading Animal Spirits
<Click on chart for larger image> The Wall Street Journal – Spanish Towns Struggle Under Crushing Debts This leafy town on the outskirts of Madrid, where residents live in comfortable homes behind high walls, marks the next front in Spain’s fiscal crisis. Struggling to rein in costs, Brunete has cut library and park workers’ hours.… Continue reading Spain
The Wall Street Journal – Paulson and the Bulls Bounce Back As stocks struggled during much of 2010, bullish hedge-fund managers like John Paulson looked like naive optimists. They got their revenge in September. Mr. Paulson, who racked up losses during the first eight months of the year and was criticized for an upbeat view… Continue reading Hedge Funds
The New York Times – GRETCHEN MORGENSON: Flawed Paperwork Aggravates a Foreclosure Crisis As some of the nation’s largest lenders have conceded that their foreclosure procedures might have been improperly handled, lawsuits have revealed myriad missteps in crucial documents. The flawed practices that GMAC Mortgage, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have recently begun investigating… Continue reading The Foreclosure Mess
Bloomberg Businessweek- TARP Didn’t Bust the Bank The much-maligned bailout program made money on most Wall Street investments and cost less than expectedBailed-out banks, insurers, and automakers are a sore spot for millions of Americans hit hard by the financial crisis. Candidates running in November, especially those waving the Tea Party banner, are using “no… Continue reading TARP