Federal Reserve

Small Investors Exuberant, Margin Debt And Risk Of Crash Soar

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Small Investors Exuberant, Margin Debt And Risk Of Crash Soar

Small investors are having fun in the stock market again, after years of sitting out the most phenomenal rally. They’re leveraging up their portfolios. Margin debt is spiking beautifully. Alas, spiking margin debt has a nasty habit of ending in a crash. In one painful chart.

The Relentless, Systematic Tear-Down Of The Dollar Hegemony

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Relentless, Systematic Tear-Down Of The Dollar Hegemony

How long before the dollar surrenders its status as world reserve currency and number-one payment currency to the Chinese yuan and to that other currency everyone loathes?

California Housing Bubble: Now Even Teachers Can No Longer Afford To Buy A Home

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on California Housing Bubble: Now Even Teachers Can No Longer Afford To Buy A Home

Teachers are a symbol of the middle class. In California, they earn on average $69,300 annually, fifth highest in the country. Not exactly a pittance. But it is a ludicrous pittance if they’re trying to buy a home.

Without Them, The Housing ‘Recovery’ Remains A Sham

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Without Them, The Housing ‘Recovery’ Remains A Sham

First-time buyers, a powerful economic energy, create real demand and make the housing market grow. We’ve been praying for their arrival like we’ve been praying for rain in parched California. But the more we pray, the fewer there are.

Housing Bubble II: What’s Ruining Home Sales? Not The Weather!

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Housing Bubble II: What’s Ruining Home Sales? Not The Weather!

OK, I get it. Life-threatening cold temperatures, polar vortices, and snow mayhem can put a damper on home construction, mortgage applications, first-time buyers, and home-builder confidence. But they also plunged on the West Coast where the weather was gorgeous.

Fed Lying About QE, Media Not Paying Attention

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Fed Lying About QE, Media Not Paying Attention

Since the introduction of QE 3, honest-looking Fed chairman Bernanke told the Wall-Street media circus after each FOMC meeting that the money-printing binge in the coming month would expand the Fed’s balance sheet by $85 billion. A fact cited worldwide. And a big lie.

Stinking Corporate Revenues, Desperately Doctored Earnings-Per-Share

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Stinking Corporate Revenues, Desperately Doctored Earnings-Per-Share

Last quarter was tough on large US corporations – those in the S&P 500 index. Unperturbed, the index soared all year. But its 343 companies that have reported so far have exposed the ugly underbelly of the worldwide economy: revenue “growth.”

Fed Flails About To Squash “Misleading” (Very Inconvenient) Unemployment Measure

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Fed Flails About To Squash “Misleading” (Very Inconvenient) Unemployment Measure

The Fed uses the easing unemployment rate as proof that its heroic policies are successful and that Bernanke could ride off into the sunset with a nimbus above his head. Other official measures are less gung-ho. And the most important one has become the Fed’s nightmare.

Stocks Plunge: ‘And This Too Shall Pass,’ Or Something

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Stocks Plunge: ‘And This Too Shall Pass,’ Or Something

The last stock-market bears have gone into hibernation, browbeaten and humiliated and ridiculed by years of brilliant rallies. Clinging to their analyses and the now silly notion that stocks should trade based on economic realities, they lost clients and money and their jobs.

What To Expect From Fed Chair Yellen In One Cartoon

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on What To Expect From Fed Chair Yellen In One Cartoon

Monday is Janet Yellen’s first day on the job as Chair of the Federal Reserve, and so, all wishful thinking aside, it’s crucial that we obtain, one way or the other, a clear picture of what her glorious tenure will look like.