Monday was the centennial of the Federal Reserve. Established in 1913 as a lender of last resort, the Federal Reserve has taken on more and more responsibilities over time. Today it is expected to stabilize the value of the dollar (which it has failed miserably to do, with exceptionally bad performance noted during the 1970s), promote growth, produce full employment (ostensibly by ignoring the value of the dollar), regulate banks, manage asset bubbles (though the Fed seems better at creating them), and to communicate all of this with a stream of speeches, press conferences and articles … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Trennert: Capital spending ‘is missing’
CNBC: In order to get growth, you need investment, says Jason Trennert of Strategas in discussing what economic factors worry him. … [Read more...]
The Taper Stimulus
After months of guessing and mixed signals from the Fed, the so-called “taper” of the quantitative easing program has finally arrived. The market surged yesterday because the Fed’s taper was taper-lite. The Fed announced that the QE program would only be drawn down by $10 billion a month at each FOMC meeting next year ($5 billion fewer in treasuries and $5 billion fewer in MBS). This means the Fed will still be buying at least $500 billion worth of bonds next year. Then the Fed said that it would keep rates at between 0% and 0.25% until the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%, but it doesn’t … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Jim Grant: Fed-Inflated Stocks a ‘Hall of Mirrors’
Americans Still Drowning in Mortgage Debt
The good news is, the Fed’s money printing has generated enough growth in real estate prices that during the third quarter 800,000 homes regained positive equity. That means, the home’s market value grew larger than its mortgage. But that still leaves 6.4 million households underwater. And of those homes whose values are above their mortgage balance, nearly 10 million are what’s known as “under equitied,” better understood as having less than 20% equity value. The housing market is coming back to be sure, but those artificial gains are at risk. You see, the Fed has added trillions in … [Read more...]
Is the Taper-pocalypse Nigh?
The gnashing of teeth and frenzy has begun on Wall Street, and in markets around the world, as the consideration that the Fed might taper has begun. On Monday the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said “A small taper might recognize labor-market improvement while still providing the committee the opportunity to carefully monitor inflation during the first half of 2014. Should inflation not return toward target, the committee could pause tapering at subsequent meetings.” If, and that’s a big if, the Fed decides to taper on a few months of decent data, it will be a small … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Fighting America’s mortgage wars
We don't agree with everything Tim Howard (former CFO of Fannie Mae) says here, but nonetheless this is a very interesting perspective on what went wrong with the mortgage markets. … [Read more...]
VIDEO: Buying or Owning Stocks Is Now Dangerous: Stockman
Bloomberg: Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- David Stockman, former director of Office of Management and Budget, explains why he believes there is a bubble in the equity market on Bloomberg Television’s “Bloomberg Surveillance.” … [Read more...]
QE: Will the Fed ever Get Enough?
For months now economic data have been moderate. Not a boom-time, but certainly not a recession. So far this week we’ve seen a slew of decent economic reports released. Starting the week on Monday was another jump in the ISM Manufacturing Index, this time to 57.3. That was well above the range analysts polled by Bloomberg predicted. The same day the Markit Economics PMI index also showed strong performance in manufacturing over the last month. Next up on Tuesday motor vehicle sales exceeded expectation, both of domestic vehicle sales and total sales. The low-interest rate joyride continues … [Read more...]
VIDEO: El-Erian: QE trade is getting old
CNBC: PIMCO CEO & co-CIO Mohamed El-Erian shares his market concerns heading into 2014 and why he believes it is time to sell stocks now. … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- …
- 116
- Next Page »