Federal Reserve

Stocks on Speed: Margin Debt Spikes, So Does Risk Of Crash

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Stocks on Speed: Margin Debt Spikes, So Does Risk Of Crash

The Fed must have seen the relentlessly spiking margin debt. Leverage is a sign of investor confidence. The great accelerator. On the way up. And on the way down. Margin debt has a nasty, very consistent habit of peaking just when the stock market begins to crash.

A Very Unfinished Recession, For Most Americans

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on A Very Unfinished Recession, For Most Americans

Statistically speaking, the Fed’s heroic actions conquered the Great Recession years ago.The economy has been growing at a measurable clip, statistically speaking, with the unemployment rate inching lower over the years, though again, that’s just statistically speaking. But most Americans, struggling to make ends meet in the real economy far from the hoopla, hype, and buzz of Wall Street or Silicon Valley, have a more accurate answer.

Spiffy Hotel Rooms For The 85 Richest Folks Who Own As Much As Poorest Half Of Humanity

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Spiffy Hotel Rooms For The 85 Richest Folks Who Own As Much As Poorest Half Of Humanity

Now that we learned that the 85 richest folks own as much as the poorest 3.5 billion, we want to know where they’re staying when they come to town for dinner. We already know where the poorest 3.5 billion are staying: in shacks, hovels, and moldy apartment blocks.

The Magic for Our Hapless Renters

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on The Magic for Our Hapless Renters

Prices for housing have jumped and rents have jumped too, yet the 38.7 million renters, 34% of all households, watched with dismay as their real wages declined.

Lousy Jobs Data: Five Years Of QE Fail, Yet Fig Leaf For Taper

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Lousy Jobs Data: Five Years Of QE Fail, Yet Fig Leaf For Taper

Today’s employment report is special. Exactly five years ago, the Fed kicked off its zero interest rate policy and QE to create the “wealth effect”: the elite would borrow for free and buy assets to drive up asset prices and make those people immensely rich; in return, they’d spend some crumbs of this new wealth, which would create jobs, say, at luxury retailers.

Plagued By Indigestion, Fed Issues Asset-Bubble Warning

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Plagued By Indigestion, Fed Issues Asset-Bubble Warning

Hidden in the middle of the 25-page minutes of the last meeting, under the most wooden and convoluted prose, the Fed issued a doozie of a warning: it fretted about financial stability. It named soaring forward P/E ratios, stock buybacks, margin credit, and leveraged loans.

Bernanke’s Delirious Praise For His Handiwork, The Concentration Of Power At the Top Banks

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Bernanke’s Delirious Praise For His Handiwork, The Concentration Of Power At the Top Banks

Bernanke wanted to reflect on the “accomplishments of the past eight years,” demolish the “sceptics” that still doubted the Fed was the best thing since sliced bread, and pat himself on the back. His policies “have helped promote the recovery,” he said. The “recovery” of what?

Fizzing Optimism For Wild Financial Engineering In 2014

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on Fizzing Optimism For Wild Financial Engineering In 2014

Nothing could have been a more pungent metaphor for the current investment climate than the headline, “Macau gambling revenue hits record $45 bn in 2013.”

So This Isn’t Exactly A Rosy Outlook For 2014, Or Something

by Wolf Richter •  • Comments Off on So This Isn’t Exactly A Rosy Outlook For 2014, Or Something

Central banks rule! We’ve seen it in 2013. They’ve accomplished the impossible: separating stock markets from the economies they’re based on. But in 2014, the US and China are trying to unwind these crazy policies – without taking down the entire global economy.