Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Friday, May 20, 2011
ECB Pushing Greece Over Brink / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Axel_Merk
Disagreements on how to address Greece's reform process boiled over this week when European Central Bank (ECB) President Trichet walked out of a meeting. Trichet warned if Greece were to extend the maturity of existing debt, the ECB would stop supporting Greece.
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Friday, May 20, 2011
The Effects of Freezing the Fed Balance Sheet / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
By: Frank_Shostak
By the end of June, the expansion of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet is expected to come to an end. According to economic commentators, Fed officials are expected to initially hold the central bank's balance sheet steady — currently at $2.75 trillion — by reinvesting the proceeds from maturing Treasuries and mortgage bonds. Thereafter, these commentators believe, as economic activity starts to gain strength, Fed officials are likely to shrink the size of the balance sheet by selling assets.
Friday, May 20, 2011
U.S. Deficit Legacy of Bush Policies and Economic Downturn / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Jesse
The Chart That Should Accompany Every Discussion of Deficits - The Atlantic
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Friday, May 20, 2011
German Bund Market Uncertainty / Interest-Rates / International Bond Market
By: Seven_Days_Ahead
Over recent weeks Government Bond markets have staged a strong rally, at a time when traders and investors have become increasingly concerned about the Euro zone Sovereign debt crisis and the US budget deficit.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Corporate Bond Spreads Match 2007 Market Highs / Interest-Rates / Corporate Bonds
By: Tony_Pallotta
Corporate bond spreads or the difference between investment grade (Aaa rated) and high yield (Bbb rated) are currently 80 basis points. They last reached these low levels in October 2007 at 79 basis points.
When this spread comes down to such low levels it signals an overbought corporate bond market as high yield debt no longer lives up to its name. Similar to the "dash for trash" in equity tops.
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Thursday, May 19, 2011
Methodology of U.S. Monetary Policy Interest Rate Tightening / Normalization Strategy / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Asha_Bangalore
The minutes of April 26-27 FOMC meeting published today contain noteworthy insights about the future course of monetary policy. Financial markets so far have digested the policy statement, published on April 27, and studied the details of the first press conference of Chairman Bernanke. The Fed published economic projections at the close of the meeting in April which previously have been part of the minutes of the meeting.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Gross Uses Sly Semantics to Hide Shorts on Government Bonds / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
Bill Gross, manager of PIMCOs Total Return Fund, the largest mutual fund in the world, claimed that reports indicating he was net short on US Treasuries were apparently part of a gross misunderstanding. Having reported this news to our readers, we thought it absolutely important to continue following up on this story until it reaches its conclusion.
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011
U.S. Treasury Bond Market Forecast, Inflation Is In The Heir / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: David_Petch
Ah, it is May, the snow has recessed to uncover nature waiting to beam with green radiance. Spring is in the air. On the same note, financial shenanigans of yesteryear are finally starting to come home to show inflation...inflation is in the air just as noticeably. This article is going to focus on "Inflation is in the Heir". Barrack Obama is a very intelligence speaker, intelligent and possess charisma. However, they could have Mickey Mouse or the Pope as the US President, or any other nation for that matter and there is nothing that can be done to prevent the coming inflationary wave...it is all part of a very long economic cycle.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Federal Debt Default Tornado Is Coming, Prepare Your Storm Shelter / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Gary_North
Sometimes we need a hole to crawl into.
I recently spoke at a conference sponsored by a small rural church in Alabama. Several of the families had been in the path of one of the tornadoes that swept through the state. One of the families had a storm shelter/basement. Several nearby families did not. So, they ran for the house of the family that did.
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Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Raising the Roof on U.S. Debt / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Peter_Schiff
Today the U.S. government officially borrowed beyond its $14.29 trillion statutory debt limit. And even though the Obama administration has assured us that accounting gimmickry will allow the government to borrow for another few months, the breach has given seeming urgency to Congressional negotiations to raise the debt ceiling.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Pimco's Gross Talks Bond Market, U.S. Deficit and Europe Crisis / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Bloomberg
Bill Gross, founder and co-CIO of Pimco, appeared on Bloomberg Television's "InBusiness with Margaret Brennan" today to discuss the bond market, the U.S. deficit and Greece being the top candidate for default in Europe. Gross says that Geithner gave the U.S. debt limit "wiggle room" and that QE3 will take the form of language instead of buying.
Monday, May 16, 2011
In an Undercollateralized World / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Fred_Sheehan
The world is undercollateralized. This is the single most important feature of the 2011 economy. Sixty years ago, if assets were worth less than loans, it was possible to work our way into the black. In 1950, 59% of U.S. corporate profits were from manufacturing; 9% were from finance. The roles of manufacturing and finance have reversed. Thus, we witness the desperate attempts to forestall what cannot be prevented. Yet, the world must deleverage. Banks must write off loans. Loans to bankrupt developers and companies must be called. Living standards must fall.
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Monday, May 16, 2011
Tortured Greece is Bankrupt / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Shedlock
The editor-in-chief of Handelsblatt, a leading German business newspaper, published a Letter to Georgios Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece, called "There is a life after death"
Here are a few excerpts...
Sunday, May 15, 2011
How to Keep a Damaged Financial and Economic System Afloat? / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Bob_Chapman
The elitists who run America from behind the scenes have serious problems in trying to keep a badly damaged financial and economic system afloat. Ironically, these same characters are the ones responsible for the system and the condition that it is in today. It is not only confined to the US, but it prevails in England, Europe and other countries as well. Central bankers are all in constant touch with each other to employ tactics that will extend the current system in the hope that something they are doing will turn into at least a temporary solution. The US maintains virtually zero interest rates and floods the economy with money and credit. The European Central Bank, the ECB, raises interest rates, but continues injecting money and credit into the system. In Europe the higher interest rates are supposed to offset the inflation caused by the increase in money and credit.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Sovereign Debt, The Biggest Bubble of Them All / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
By: John_Mauldin
This week we turn from the crisis brewing in the US to the one that is coming to a slow boil in Europe. We visit our old friends Greece and Ireland and ponder how this will end. It is all well and good to kick the can down the road, but what happens when you come to the end of the road? The European answer seems to be to haul in the heavy equipment and extend the road.
I am asked all the time what my biggest worry is, and I quickly answer, the European Sovereign Debt Crisis. Of course, then we have to think about the Japanese Sovereign Debt Crisis, followed by the one in the US; but today we will focus on Europe. The biggest bubble in history is the bubble of government debt. It is a bubble in a world full of pins. It will take a great deal of luck and crisis management to keep it afloat, without wreaking havoc on the financial system and markets of the world.
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
Goldman Sachs Using Currency Swaps to Hide Greek Debt Iceberg / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
By: Mike_Shedlock
By now, most realize that Greece used currency swaps with Goldman to hide debt. However, Bloomberg has some new details about those transaction in its report Greece Had 13 Currency Swaps With Goldman, Eurostat Says
Friday, May 13, 2011
The End of Bernanke's "End Game" / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
By: William_Anderson
In a recent screed masquerading as the thoughts of a Nobel prize winner in economics, Paul Krugman excoriates those who speak of
Read full article... Read full article...fear: fear of a debt crisis, of runaway inflation, of a disastrous plunge in the dollar. Scare stories are very much on politicians' minds.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
A ‘New Normal’ how Fed policy influences global financial markets / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
By: ECR_Research
The consequences of the ‘new normal’ (coined by El-Erian of PIMCO) are not limited to the US, but have profound implications how we need to analyze the world economy and financial markets.
The time has passed that the rest of the world followed the US economic cycle closely. The growth dynamic in especially the emerging markets have become much more important, for the rather simple fact that US consumption growth isn’t the single locomotive for the world economy any more. And if we should believe economists, the US consumer will not regain this position in the foreseeable future. They will be too busy paying down debt and saving for retirement. Hardly any economist will disagree with this.
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Thursday, May 12, 2011
Banking in Darkness FDIC System Insures $7trillion Deposits with Dwindling Insurance Fund / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Submissions
John Rolls submits : MyBudget360: Americans are offered close to zero percent interest rates to stuff their money into this banking vortex.
The American banking system is based on pure faith. Usually when the topic comes up in conversation I will ask someone if they know what backs the green cash in their wallet. One of the common responses is “there is gold in Fort Knox” or another typical response is that it is backed by U.S. assets. Unfortunately both of these answers are incorrect. In fact all of our money deposited in the banking system is backed by the pure faith in our U.S. government.
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Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Resurgent Greek Debt Crisis Stokes Concern, Causes S&P to Lower Rating / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
By: Money_Morning
David Zeiler writes:
Concern that the Greek debt crisis is far from resolved led Standard & Poor's to lower that troubled country's debt rating even deeper into junk territory yesterday (Monday).
The S&P cut Greece to B from BB- with a warning it could downgrade further.
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