Archive for May, 2015

China PMI

Monday, May 4th, 2015

Via the FT: China's manufacturing sector deteriorated more than originally thought in April, according to the final reading of the HSBC Markit 'flash' PMI. The index now comes in at 48.9 for the month, versus an original reading of 49.2 and versus expectations that it would only end up at 49.4. The ...

Comments on Macroeconomics and FX

Monday, May 4th, 2015

Via Kit Juckes at SocGen: <http://www.sgresearch.com/r/?id=hda31982,127b4c11,127b4c12&p1=136122&p2=714caea24ee3399d0af2ca3e9863d93d> The UK election is going nowhere and minority government appears as likely as ever. If you missed the weekend news it mostly saw Ed Milliband displaying his stonemasonary skills. Sterling strategy - sell in May and go away. In my case, to New York tomorrow, which ...

Steel Cage Death Match

Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

I have not followed the debate but judging by this WSJ piece by Professor John Taylor ( Taylor Rule inventor) he and former Fed Chairman Bernanke have been in involved in a friendly intellectual battle royal about rules based monetary policy. Professor Taylor would argue and assert that at the current ...

Global Slowdown

Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

Gavyn Davies of the FT has a nice summary of the slowdown in global growth. Most analysts he notes remain optimistic and expect the slowdown to be temporary. Via the FT: Global growth report card – is the world slowdown temporary? Gavyn Davies | May 03 16:12 ...

Trading in Greek Bonds: Light Activity

Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

Via the WSJ: Markets Credit Markets Trading in Greek Government Bonds Slows to a Trickle Greece’s standoff with creditors has slashed trading in its government debt, with prices swinging wildly By Christopher Whittall And Tommy Stubbington May 3, 2015 4:28 p.m. ET 0 COMMENTS Greece’s standoff with creditors has investors speculating once again about the impact of a ...

Overnight Data

Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

Via Robert Sinche at Amherst Pierpont Securities: AUSTRALIA: TS Securities puts out a monthly inflation report to supplement the official quarterly release; the index has been hovering around 1.5% YOY this year, and the April index should remain close to that level. CHINA: The HSBC/Markit final Manufacturing PMI is expected (BBerg consensus) ...

Mester and Williams on Timing on Rate Hikes

Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

Via Bloomberg: Two Federal Reserve officials, in the first comments by policy makers since their gathering earlier this week, said the central bank is ready to raise interest rates at any meeting as the economy picks up after a harsh winter. “All meetings are on the table” for the first rate rise ...

Cost of College

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

Via Barron's : By Amey Stone It’s not only parents that need to worry about the rising costs of college, says Rick Rieder, chief investment officer for fixed-income at BlackRock. In a recent blog post, he lists four main reasons why the high cost of a college degree is a drag on ...

Auto Business

Saturday, May 2nd, 2015

The WSJ reports on the state of the auto business and finds that sector quite healthy. The industry expects its best sales year in a decade this year as (still) low interest rates and cheap gas motivate buyers. The story notes that buyers are craving luxury and accessories. The one ...

Merrill Lynch on Credit Spreads

Friday, May 1st, 2015

Via Merrill Lynch Research: 1994, 2004, 2015 We remain strategically underweight high grade corporate credit. We also remain concerned that the heavy May new issue pipeline will prove... ...difficult for the market to digest amidst renewed concerns about interest rate risk. 1994, 2004, 2015. It seems that we skipped a year in that sequence. While ...