Archive for January, 2008
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
I just gave a quick skim through the Beige Book and it does not add much to our store of knowledge regarding the economy or the the Central Bank's judgement and perspective on items macroeconomic. The report notes that the economy is slowing and specifically takes note of the soft ...
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Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Actually the TIC data was quite friendly and manifests the continued willingness of foreigners to park money here. Net TIC flows declined to $90billion in November from $114billion in October.The consensus forecast called for a drop to about $50billion. Economists at HSBC note that the data is surprisingly strong given ...
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Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
CPI printed close to expectations with the headline number a bit higher than expected at 0.3percent versus the 0.2percent consensus. The ex food and energy number was right on the consensus at 0.2percent.
One source with whom I spoke mentioned that overnight flows were rather heavy with substantial buying of 2year ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on CPI and Other Matters
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Prices of benchmark Treasury securities continue to push higher in overnight trading. The yield on the 2year note descends below 2.50 percent and is currently about 2.47percent as it seemingly is on a march to zero. The 10year note yield is inside of 3.65percent and now is an area briefly ...
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Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Wednesday is another data heavy day and it begins with the CPI report. The headline number and the ex-food and energy component are each expected to post increases of 0.2percent. Last month they were up 0.8percent and 0.3percent ,respectively.
The Treasury is slated to release the Treaury International Capital flow data ...
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
An interesting example of how John Donne's famous aphorism that "no man is and island entire of itself" is true in the most modern of contexts. Somewhere in North America our thirst for cheap fuel is causing hardship for the poor in the island nation of Indonesia.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/566f6e44-c363-11dc-b083-0000779fd2ac.html
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Citibank's announcement of a mega loss in Q4 included credit charges for consumer credit vehicles which have begun to go sour. JPMorgan reports tomorrow and it will be instructive to see if this is a micro or a macro problem. I have cut and pasted the relevant piece from Citibank's ...
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
Prices of Treasury coupon securities surged today empowerd by financial stress at several very large institutions as well as by a weak report on retail sales. The yield curve reversed its recent trend and developed a fierce predeliction to flatten today.The yield on the 2year Treasury is flirting with the ...
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
The market has broken to new yield lows in trading following the release of a chunk of economic data this morning. The 10year has flirted with the 3.70 level and the steepening process has halted for the time being with 2year/10year back inside of 120 basis points. Some steepeners are ...
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Tuesday, January 15th, 2008
The Labor Department released the PPI data this morning. It was rather benign as the headline fell 0.1percent(consensus+0.2) and increased at the ex-food and energy level exactly as the prognosticastors anticipated at +0.2percent.
At the intermediate level total PPI dropped 0.2percent but increased 1.0 percent at the crude level.
These numbers do not show ...
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