ROUND UP
Markets hummed along today ahead of the Fed’s Jackson Hole symposium later this week, as investors hoped for news on further monetary stimulus. The S&P 500 closed down 0.05 per cent. Read more
A reminder of why the ECB’s promise to “address” seniority in its new bond purchases matters so much (click to enlarge):
While there was a time that the gold price represented a useful expression of investor concerns over currency debasement, that may no longer be the case. So says Simon Derrick from the Bank of New York Mellon, who argued last week that it’s probably time to re-evaluate the signals coming from the bullion market.
As he wrote last Wednesday: Read more
Merkel warns against Grexit talk: German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned against talk of a Greek exit from the eurozone, saying on German network ARD that “everybody should weigh their words very carefully”. She also said the Greek government was undertaking “serious efforts” to reduce its debt. The firefighting came after Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann opined in Der Spiegel that the ECB buying bonds of ailing sovereigns would amount to state financing of governments, which the central bank is not permitted to do. (Bloomberg, Reuters)
The Shanghai Composite fell 1% and is headed for its lowest close since February 2009 after China’s statistics bureau reported industrial profits fell for the fourth consecutive month. Markets had been bouyed earlier in the day from weekend comments by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao urging extra support for exporters. (Bloomberg) Read more
