Archive for June, 2014
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
The FT has an interesting article on the prospective response of central banks to the prospect of higher rates. It turns out they are rational actors and plan to reduce their holdings of fixed income securities and in an asset allocation trade they are moving into equities. The story notes ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Momentum Trade Ending
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
Tony Blair writes in the FT on the latest crisis in Iraq and lays it at the feet of the policy of non intervention in Syria which allowed the emergence of the radical jihadist ISIS group.
Via the FT:
June 22, 2014 5:31 pm
Removing Saddam Hussein did not cause this crisis
By Tony ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
I just read a Barron's interview with David Kelly of JPMorgan Funds and he spends some time at the beginning of the interview discussing a dismal future with 2 percent growth. He pins some of the blame on demographics and weak cap ex spending.
Via Barron's :
Interview
Why Stocks Remain the Best ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on More on Demographics
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
President Obama recently took steps to cap the amount of money which former students would be required to pay on their student loans at 10 percent of income and he has proposed forgiving those loans after twenty years. He would forgive the loans more quickly if one worked for the ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Student Loan Agonies
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
Dick Cheney is a controversial fellow and does not shy away from the spotlight. Earlier this week he co authored an Op Ed in the WSJ which issued a scathing critique of President Obama's foreign policy and his treatment of Iraq in particular. He is back in the news today ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Dick Cheney Speaks on Iraq
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
Janet Yellen at her press conference last week dismissed concerns about higher inflation reading as "noise ". The Business Insider blog has a compendium of street research pieces which all comment on the nascent inflation problem and its possible impact on FOMC policy. For now the Fed is firmly focused ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Inflation Rears Its Ugly Head
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
Via WSJ:
Middle East News
Sunni Insurgents Capture More Territory in Western Iraq
Extremists Seize Town of Al Rutba, Military Installation in Rasa
By
Ali A. Nabhan And
Matt Bradley
June 22
2014 5:17 a.m. ET
BAGHDAD—Sunni extremist militants expanded and reinforced their territories in Iraq's west on Saturday night, advancing their goal of slicing out an Islamist emirate ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Insurgents Incremental Gains in Iraq
Sunday, June 22nd, 2014
This is a fascinating (to me) story at the Wall Street Journal on demographics and growth. The author offers the theory that the baby boom generation produced an economy in which there were many more workers relative to retirees and children and this disproportionate ration acted to increase economic growth. ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Demographic Dividend
Saturday, June 21st, 2014
Andrew Haldane is chief economist for the Bank of England and in an interview published today he averred rates would not return to pre crisis levels. He offers the opinion that rates will eventually settle in somewhere between 2 percent and 3 percent.
Via the WSJ:
U.K. Interest Rates Won't Return to ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on New Normal UK Style
Saturday, June 21st, 2014
Via Bloomberg
Draghi Says Unlimited Cash Through 2016 Is ECB Signal on Rates
2014-06-21 10:23:26.989 GMT
By Jeff Black
June 21 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President
Mario Draghi indicated that interest rates will probably remain
low for at least another 2 1/2 years.
“We have prolonged banks’ access to unlimited liquidity up
to the end of 2016. ...
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on More Draghi