Today's topics include Trump's criticisms of the Fed, a history of indexation, bear market watch, corporate issuance, tax implications for hedge fund investors, goodwill impairments, the PBOC's lending facility and Bitcoin's terrible year.
It is unusual for the stock market to make new lows in December, especially in the second half of December. This is adding to the anxiety on Wall Street and does not bode well for next year.
Public and spending policy uncertainties are on the rise, not helped by turmoil surrounding Trump. Unlike trade, concerns of the future of public and spending policies are denting growth outlooks and instigating market volatility.
The latest drop in crude oil may be the most painful to date. Spot prices and longer-dated oil swaps are falling into the range of estimated breakevens for U.S. shale. The gap between integrated and independent producers is likely to widen.
Jim appeared on CNBC yesterday afternoon and discussed the Federal Reserve.
All eyes are on China's holdings of U.S. Treasuries because of the trade war, but Japan has actually sold the same amount since February.
Today's topics include the FOMC meeting, falling crude oil, market volatility, technical analysis, Brexit, hedge funds' exposure to U.S. equities and slowing global growth.
Wall Street is having a tough time determining how large the Fed's SOMA portfolio will be at the conclusion of quantitative tightening. Likewise, estimates vary on how much accomodation is being removed via balance sheet reduction.
Fears of a Fed policy mistake have burst to levels witnessed during the yuan devaluation and global weakness of September 2015.
Given the carnage in markets and the repricing of economic growth, some form of dovish concession is expected from the Federal Reserve on Wednesday. What would a dovish course correction mean for the U.S. dollar?
On the heels of Michael Cohen's sentencing, the topic of a Trump impeachment has reached a crescendo on cable news channels. Some have suggested this chatter is taking a toll on the markets. We examine this possibility in several different ways, ultimately finding no real relationship.