Central Banks Now Own A Third Of The Entire $54 Trillion Global Bond Market
Two weeks ago we asked a question: maybe behind all the rhetoric and constant (ab)use of sophisticated terms like “gamma”, “vega”, CTAs, risk-parity, vol-neutral, central bank vol-suppression, (inverse) VIX ETFs and so forth to explain why despite the surging political uncertainty in recent years, and especially since the US election … global equity volatility, both implied and […]
HH Who Will Survive The Retail Reckoning Of 2017?
By Knowledge Wharton Legacy retailers’ ongoing struggle to stay relevant in a landscape increasingly dominated by Amazon and online upstarts has come to a head in the past year. Companies will close thousands of stores this year – and some may not survive at all. While it may seem that retail is headed for an apocalypse dominated […]
Less Than Zero: How The Fed Killed Saving
The other day I was in my local branch of a Too Big To Fail bank where I have a few accounts. One of them is a savings account in which I keep some of my “dry powder” cash stored. It had been a while since I had checked what kind of return the savings […]
Forex Forecast: Pairs In Focus – Sunday, June 4
The difference between success and failure in Forex trading is very likely to depend upon which currency pairs you choose to trade each week, and not on the exact trading methods you might use to determine trade entries and exits. Each week I am going to analyze fundamentals, sentiment and technical positions in order to […]
International Economic Week In Review: Solid News Continues
Three years ago, Larry Summers reacquainted us with the term “secular stagnation” – a term originally used during the Great Depression to describe an extended period of weak but positive economic growth. In an interview this week, he stated he still agrees with that particular assessment of the overall economic situation: “When I made my comments […]
The Week Ahead: Critical ECB Decision, UK Elections And More
After a focus on the US, markets now shift to the old continent. The ECB has its inflation numbers. Will it decide to initiate the beginning of the end of the QE program? Or will Draghi drag down the euro? In the UK, the night between Thursday and Friday could be critical for the pound […]
Above The 40 – Breadth Returns To The Stock Market…Just In Time
AT40 = 55.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 56.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 9.8 (volatility index)Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary In my last Above the 40 post, I noted how the trading action made it hard for me to cling to my cautiously bullish short-term trading […]
If Gold Starts The Week Running We Could See An Extension Beyond $1,300
The Dollar sold off, and metals rallied after Friday’s weak employment numbers. The April and March data was revised lower, adding fuel to gold’s rebound. Oddly, the softer than expected economic data didn’t affect the odds for a June rate hike which remain at 94.6%. The steadfast underperformance in miners contradicts the persistent rally in metals. Nevertheless, […]
Solar Senior Capital: 8%+ Dividend Yield And Monthly Dividend Payments
Business Development Companies, or BDCs, have become popular among income investors, particularly retirees. That is because BDCs, as an alternative asset class, offer very high dividend yields, thanks in part to a favorable tax structure. For example, Solar Senior Capital (SUNS) has a current dividend yield of 8.4%. You can see the full list of established […]
US Bond Market Week In Review: Is The Fed’s Fundamental Analysis Wrong?
As I observed over the last two weeks, most Fed presidents believe they have achieved their dual mandate – full employment and inflation near 2%. Today, I want to look at the counter-arguments to this assessment – that the U.S. is not at full employment and that inflation is in fact weaker than 2%. Assuming […]
