Archive for January, 2015

Aging Baby Boomer Alert

Monday, January 19th, 2015

Via the NYTimes: Millennials Set to Outnumber Baby Boomers By DOUGLAS QUENQUAJAN. 19, 2015 75 is the approximate number, in millions, of millennials that the United States will have this year. The total of millennials — those born from 1981 to 1997 — will reach 75.3 million, overtaking baby boomers (1946 to 1964) ...

Swiss Fallout

Monday, January 19th, 2015

The FT has posted an article which details the latest carnage from the Swiss National Bank's decision last week to untether the franc. It also details the angst which regulators are suffering as they survey the damage. Swiss franc fallout claims more casualties Philip Stafford, Caroline Binham and Miles Johnson in LondonAuthor ...

Hilsenrath Article

Monday, January 19th, 2015

Via the WSJ: CENTRAL BANKS Fed Officials on Track to Raise Short-Term Rates Later in the Year While Europeans Weigh Bond-Buying Program to Boost Growth, U.S. Officials Are Upbeat on America’s Economic Prospects By JON HILSENRATH Jan. 19, 2015 2:14 p.m. ET Federal Reserve officials are on track to start raising short-term interest rates later this year, ...

Income Inequality on Steroids

Monday, January 19th, 2015

The NYTimes is carrying a story which says that the richest eighty billionaires on the planet control as much wealth as the bottom 50 percent of the global population (3.5 billion people). Via the NYTimes: Business Day Richest 1% Likely to Control Half of Global Wealth by 2016, Study Finds By PATRICIA COHENJAN. 19, ...

Reuters Headline

Monday, January 19th, 2015

Via a fully paid up subscriber: 19-Jan-2015 14:48 - BUNDESBANK STILL STRIVING TO PUT LIMITS ON ECB QUANTITATIVE EASING - SOURCES FAMILIAR WITH THE DEBATE ..rtrs

FX

Monday, January 19th, 2015

Via Marc Chandler at Brown Brothers Harriman: Drivers for the Week Ahead We provide a thumbnail sketch of the top things to watch this week, including: -        The ECB meeting will be the main event, but there are plenty of moving parts -        The Greek national election ...

Weak Real Estate In China

Sunday, January 18th, 2015

Via the WSJ: By Esther Fung Jan. 17, 2015 9:42 p.m. ET SHANGHAI—The average price of new homes in 70 Chinese cities fell at a slower pace on a month-to-month basis in December as developers pulled back on price cuts at year-end after Beijing unexpectedly cut interest rates in November. On a year-on-year basis however, ...

Obama Channels Piketty

Saturday, January 17th, 2015

When President Obama delivers his State of the Union address to the nation later this week the speech will contain proposals which will increase the progressiveness of the tax code. He will propose raising the top rate on capital gains income to 28 percent from 23.8 percent. Under current law ...

Quantitative Mechanics

Friday, January 16th, 2015

Via Bloomberg: ECB Plans to Run QE Through National Central Banks, Spiegel Says 2015-01-16 17:01:15.182 GMT By Jana Randow (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Mario Draghi briefed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble on quantitative-easing plans under which national central banks would buy bonds issued by their own country, Spiegel magazine reported. The plan, which ...

Treasury Update

Friday, January 16th, 2015

Dealers are shell shocked after the extreme volatility the market has experienced this week. Traders offered complaints about liquidity and suggested that when the market starts to run one way there is no one available to stop the flow. In terms of flow today I have heard of real money paying ...