Bloomberg View – Ben Emons: The Simple Reason Why Buy the Dip Rules Investor Behavior Since the 1990s, the assumption has been that when things get bad, central banks will come to the rescue. In the past, when the returns of the “risk-on” and “risk-off” portfolios converged, that usually marked a tipping point. Markets are currently… Continue reading More On Investor Behavior
The Wall Street Journal – Low Inflation Gives Fed Pause on Raising Rates Again This Year Stubbornly low inflation readings are giving Federal Reserve officials second thoughts about whether they will be in a position to raise short-term interest rates again this year. Several Fed officials have indicated in recent interviews and public comments they are… Continue reading Low Inflation And Fed Rate Hikes
The Financial Times – Stanley Fischer’s departure reveals weakness at the Fed Bravery and resolution by the FR Bank presidents is called for to stand up against what is likely to be a campaign not only to roll back bank regulation beyond what is justified, but also to go harmfully “light touch” in the implementation of… Continue reading The New Fed Chair
Bloomberg Gadfly – Draghi Trips Over Euro on Way to QE Exit European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is discovering that exiting quantitative easing is harder than introducing it. The more the euro rises, the more downward pressure it puts on inflation, making it harder for the central bank to taper its bond-buying program, which in… Continue reading Why Draghi Should Ignore The Euro
The Washington Post – Trump, Schumer agree to pursue plan to repeal the debt ceiling President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling, three people familiar with the decision said. Trump and Schumer discussed the… Continue reading Repealing The Debt Ceiling
The Financial Times – Investors in catastrophe bonds flee Irma fury Catastrophe bonds allow insurers and groups seeking insurance to pass on the risk of natural disasters to hedge funds and other investors. Buyers of the notes are paid interest but risk losing their principal if a natural disaster strikes and an insurer’s losses pile up.… Continue reading Catastrophe Bonds And Insurance Stocks Take A Hit
Bloomberg Business – Buy Everything: Gold, Stocks, Bonds All Draw Big Inflows Investors had a multitude of signals to react to in the first week of post-summer business as usual. While rising political risks including North Korean nuclear tests and American hurricanes sent some investors rushing to haven assets, fresh signals from the European Central Bank that… Continue reading Investors Continue To Buy Everything!
The Financial Times – Big Oil bets on a dash for gas Producers are investing heavily in LNG projects to compete with wind and solar. But is too much capacity being added? The $14bn Prelude project, led by Royal Dutch Shell, is the latest in a surge of new LNG capacity which promises to reshape the… Continue reading The Future Of Energy
The New York Times – Equifax Says Cyberattack May Have Affected 143 Million Customers Equifax, one of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies, said on Thursday that hackers had gained access to company data that potentially compromised sensitive information for 143 million American consumers, including Social Security numbers and driver’s license numbers. The attack on… Continue reading Equifax Hacked, 143 million U.S. Consumers Affected
Bloomberg Gadfly – Fed Model Loses Its Grip on Stocks Wall Street likes to play up the Federal Reserve’s role in boosting the market, but by one popular gauge at least the Fed’s influence on stocks seems to be diminished. The so-called Fed model is supposed to be able to predict when U.S. stocks are a good… Continue reading The Fed Model That No Longer Works On Stocks
The Wall Street Journal – Goldman’s Blankfein on Markets: ‘Things Have Been Going Up for Too Long’ Goldman Sachs Group Chairman Lloyd Blankfein on Wednesday sounded a warning about the markets, saying that some of what he sees “unnerves” him. Mr. Blankfein said the current market environment “doesn’t feel like tulip-bulb-mania,” a reference to the famous… Continue reading Bubble Mania?! Not Really