Bloomberg Gadfly – Nir Kaissar: Hedge Funds Back the Wrong Bull Another year, another disappointing start for hedge funds. But don’t despair — the hedgies have a plan to lift their fortunes: U.S. small-cap stocks. It’s been a long, long time since hedge funds outpaced the market. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index lost to… Continue reading Your Daily Dose Of Hedge Fund Doom
The Wall Street Journal – This Shipping Magnate Is Calling a Bottom in the Oil Rout John Fredriksen wants to double down on the battered oil tanker business, even as his offshore drilling business sinks in debt hipping magnate John Fredriksen is trying to buy more oil tankers despite a glut of vessels afloat, a looming… Continue reading Calling A Bottom In Oil
Bloomberg.com – Rising Inequality May Be the Real Risk of Automation Technological change has had more impact on earnings distribution than on demand for workers, study finds The bigger concern, they say, is how technological advances will affect earnings distribution. Essentially, the argument that the duo puts forth is that as long as there have been humans,… Continue reading Robots Taking Jobs
The Federal Reserve – Anna Wong: China’s Current Account: External Rebalancing or Capital Flight? This paper examines an anomaly in China’s current account: its large and rapidly growing travel expenditure. Drawing evidence from counterparty data, Chinese international arrival statistics, and gravity equation models extended to travel trade, I find that a significant amount of… Continue reading Measuring China’s Outflows
CNBC – Europe’s inequality highly destabilizing, ECB’s Draghi says * Europe’s growing inequality is highly destabilizing and needs to be tackled with education, innovation and investment in human capital. * Income inequality has grown among eurozone countries since the global financial crisis. * “We have to fight against inequality,” Mario Draghi, European Central Bank President in… Continue reading Draghi Speaks
The Wall Street Journal – Justin Lahart: If You Think Stocks Are Dull, Look at the Economy Economic volatility in the U.S. and abroad has fallen sharply Volatility has disappeared from the stock market. One simple reason is that the economy has never looked so calm. Stocks are having one of their quietest periods in… Continue reading It’s Quiet Out There
Sir Thomas Bland, Deputy Chairman of Barclays Bank, unveils the first Barclaycash machine in London, June 27, 1967. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES The Wall Street Journal – Bill Nuti: 24/7 Banking Is 50 Years Old Before the ATM you had to get cash during ‘bankers’ hours.’ It’s the golden anniversary of the ATM. On June 27,… Continue reading The ATM Turns 50
Bloomberg – Mohamed El-Erian: What You Should Know About r* Finding the neutral rate of interest will ensure the economy is growing at potential and inflation is contained. Should central banks undershoot r*, they will hamper the improvement in economic fundamentals needed to validate existing asset prices, thus risking market instability as prices ultimately converge back… Continue reading Inflation, Uncertainty, and Financial Stability, Oh My!
Bloomberg – David Ader: What the Shrinking Yield Curve Is Really All About What is also surprising is how the curve has been nonplussed over the Fed’s intent to start shrinking its $4.5 trillion balance sheet later this year. This attitude, or lack of one, perhaps hints that the market doesn’t expect that shrinkage to go… Continue reading Interpreting The Yield Curve
Nikkei – Japan’s government bond market grinding to a halt Yield on 10-year notes frozen for 7 days Yields on newly issued 10-year Japanese government bonds remained flat for seven straight sessions through Friday as the Bank of Japan continued its efforts to keep long-term interest rates around zero. The 10-year JGB yield again closed at… Continue reading The JGB Market All But Disappears
The Wall Street Journal – Fed Officials Split on Inflation’s Path The divide could influence the timing of the next interest-rate increase Barely a week after raising short-term interest rates for the second time this year, Federal Reserve officials are increasingly divided on the timing of their next move, with some saying they won’t support another… Continue reading Forecasting Inflation