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
This week on FT Alphaville,
- China’s economy is seeing uneven growth — and in all the wrong places. Read more
ROUND UP
Stocks closed down today as investors debated whether more central bank stimulus was in the works. The S&P 500 closed down 0.81 per cent. Yields on “haven” bonds fell, with 10-year Treasuries falling to 1.67 per cent and 10-year Bunds closing at 1.38 per cent. Read more
Today’s report by the CBO takes an updated look at the outlooks for the US fiscal position and economic growth through 2022. And surprise, surprise: the fiscal “cliff” Americans are heading towards at the end of 2012 would be bad news if unaverted — certainly in the near term.
In particular, GDP and unemployment figures would be hit substantially under current law (the “baseline projection,” i.e. the fiscal cliff is not averted): Read more
ROUND UP
Markets crawled to a close on Monday on light trading, as Eurozone news confused investors. The S&P 500 closed down 0.03 per cent. Meanwhile, yields on Spanish yields fell to their lowest levels since early June, with 10 year notes dropping to 6.28 per cent (Financial Times). Read more
ROUND UP
Markets round up: Euro stocks rallied today as fears about the Eurozone and US economies quelled. The FTSE 100 closed up 0.03 per cent. The S&P 500 closed up 0.71 per cent. In further news, US Treasuries rose to their highest levels since May, with 10-year notes closing at 1.84 per cent. Read more
ROUND UP
Markets lost steam today as weak Japanese export and growth data highlighted a lack of global demand. The S&P 500 closed down 0.13 per cent. Read more
This week on FT Alphaville,
- The week began with more bad news from Knight Capital. Read more
ROUND UP
Markets crawled forward, after lower Chinese inflation promised hopes of further monetary stimulus( Financial Times). The S&P 500 closed up 0.04 per cent, having gained 0.6 per cent in the last three days (Reuters). However, yields on Italian and Spanish two-year bonds continued to rise, amid doubts over action by the ECB (Bloomberg). Read more
A recent note by the National Bureau of Economic Research takes an interesting look at companies’ tendency to increase their cash holdings (click image to download the full report):
ROUND UP
Markets continued to rally on Monday, as Friday’s relatively upbeat jobs report continued to lift spirits. Yields on Italian and Spanish bonds fell, and the FTSE 100 closed up 0.37 per cent; the S&P 500 closed up 0.23 per cent (Financial Times). Read more
This week on FT Alphaville,
- We covered Mario Draghi’s eagerly awaited ECB press conference. It didn’t go so well, amid market confusion – or did it? It was the debate of the week. Read more
ROUND UP
US stocks ended their recent rally despite hopes that policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic would undertake further measures to buoy the US and Eurozone economies. The S&P 500 closed down 0.05 per cent (Financial Times). Meanwhile, the US bond market quelled fears that the country could be heading into a period of deflation (Bloomberg). Read more
ROUND UP
Investors remained wary as stocks vacillated between positive Euro bank news and missed earnings from Apple. The S&P 500 finished the day down 0.03%. However, the Euro made up some of its losses, finishing up 0.5 per cent to $1.2127 (Financial Times). Read more
Big disappointment with today’s earnings report from Apple….
ROUND UP
Spanish funding fears depressed US stocks. Spain’s two-year bond yields rose by the most in one day since the beginning of the eurozone crisis (Financial Times). The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered from a 239 point plunge at markets’ open, but still closed down 101 points at 12721.46 (Wall Street Journal). Read more
This week on FT Alphaville,
- More on Spain’s bail-in and the ECB’s U-turn, courtesy of Joseph… Read more
ROUND UP
Stocks continued to rally today, with the S&P 500 rising 0.27 per cent on the back of several upbeat corporate earnings reports (Financial Times). Read more
European retail lending as a dying bank business model walking — charts via McKinsey, in this new report by the consultants:
Click through the chart confirming what we all knew for the latest IMF Global Financial Stability Report, released this morning…
This week on FT Alphaville,
- The ECB’s zero deposit rate still loomed over markets from the week before. Scary. Read more
As the topic of student loans has been gaining momentum this election year, it might be worth taking a moment to examine some not-so-rosy points about the whole business.
First some background. In the world of US student loans, Uncle Sam reigns supreme. A recent research note by Credit Suisse noted that since the abolition of the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) in 2010, the government has become owner of an estimated 88% of total outstanding student debt. Read more
ROUND-UP
Marking a fourth consecutive day of decline, the S&P 500 fell 0.81 per cent. It’s the longest losing streak that the index has experienced since May. Meanwhile, European equities essentially stayed flat, with the FTSE 100 registering a modest 0.65 per cent gain on news of a Spanish bailout blueprint (Bloomberg). Read more
1About China's capacity to absorb more capital
2Japan's mini crash: Blame China, not just Ben
3Spain's awful unemployment
4S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
5The Nikkei: a market abducted by retail
Show more6Everlasting credit, the long view
7Measure it however you like: inflation has been low and falling
8Buyback to enrich
9Apple Operations International, facts (?) du jour
10Bernanke's testimony to the Joint Economic Committee
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