Bloomberg – Senator Shelby Says He Doesn’t Think Trump Will Reappoint Yellen to Fed Republican Senator Richard Shelby said he doesn’t think President Donald Trump will nominate Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen for a second term at the helm of the U.S. central bank. Shelby said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Vonnie Quinn… Continue reading Updating The Race For The Fed Chair
Bloomberg – The Fed Is Holding Back the Dollar The central bank’s decision to begin reducing its balance sheet is just one of many indicators that global monetary policy is changing. Ever since the Federal Reserve laid out the process of balance-sheet normalization in June 2017, the dovish declines in rate expectations of board members have… Continue reading The Fed & The Dollar
Bloomberg – Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Increase More Than Forecast Home prices in 20 U.S. cities climbed more than forecast in July, reflecting solid demand against a backdrop of modest listings of properties, figures from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller showed Tuesday. Buyers are competing for a limited number of for-sale homes, allowing sellers to boost… Continue reading House Prices Continue Higher
The Wall Street Journal – Declining Male Workforce Participation Reflects Supply, Not Demand, Says New Paper Weakness in the labor market doesn’t adequately explain why fewer men are working or seeking jobs, according to a new paper published by economist Scott Winship and the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. One big contributor is the rising number of men in their… Continue reading Declining Male Workforce
Bloomberg Gadfly – Lisa Abramowicz: That Junk Loan Is Now Basically a Junk Bond According to a Fitch Ratings estimate, more than two-thirds of this year’s high-yield loan sales are refinancings, with less than a quarter of such sales in February and March stemming from new deals. In other words, for the most part, companies are simply… Continue reading The State Of The Junk Bond Market
CNBC – In this 9-year bull run, watching for signs a bear may be lurking Cyclical bear markets are a function of the economic cycle, while structural bear markets are triggered by imbalances and financial bubbles. The bottom line on a bear market risk: the combination of low inflation, low risk of sharp monetary tightening and… Continue reading Bearish vs Bullish Market Calls
Bloomberg Markets – The Massive Hedge Fund Betting on AI Initially wary of the technology, Man Group was soon persuaded by the returns from algorithm-centric funds. An encouraging sign for Man is that investors everywhere are trusting their money increasingly to technology. Computer-driven quantitative funds—the cluster that’s invested heavily in AI—are the only part of the… Continue reading Another Hedge Fund Turns To AI
Bloomberg Markets – A Crypto Fund King Says Bitcoin Will Be the Biggest Bubble Ever Mike Novogratz is reinventing himself as the king of bitcoin. The swaggering macro manager who flamed out at Fortress Investment Group LLC is starting a $500 million hedge fund to invest in cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings and related companies. Novogratz will put up… Continue reading “King Of Crypto” Is Bullish On Bitcoin
The Washington Post – Each county in the United States, ranked by economic distress More than 52 million Americans live in economically distressed communities wracked by poverty, poor education and declining work opportunities. Most of those communities are in the South. And people in those communities die an average of five years earlier than their neighbors in… Continue reading Economic Distress In The U.S.
Business Insider – BLACKROCK: It’s time to buy banks The world’s largest asset manager is adding its voice to Wall Street’s bullishness on bank stocks. “U.S. banks have lagged the broader market and European peers year-to-date,” said Richard Turnill, BlackRock’s global chief investment strategist, in a note Monday. “We believe this trend has turned.” The optimism on banks,… Continue reading Regional Banks Live and Die by the Treasury Curve
The Wall Street Journal – Why Emerging Markets Aren’t Too Hot to Handle The Fed’s rate plans may give emerging-market investors pause, but there are some important counterweights to consider It’s been a hot year for emerging-market investments. With the U.S. Federal Reservereaffirming its plans for rising rates, that might be cause for nerves. But the… Continue reading Falling Stars? Slowing G10 Economic Data