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?
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.”
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.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Cracks Forming In Housing Bubble II (But This Time It’s Different)
Number one is Palo Alto, epicenter of Silicon Valley craziness, where home prices are now 40% higher than they were at their prior bubble peak. What are we calling this phenomenon? Bubble? Nope. “Housing recovery.” But the middle class has hit a wall.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What Happens Next, Now That The 10-year Treasury Yield Hit The Psycho-Sound Barrier Of 3%
Treasuries have been skidding, and the 10-year yield hit the psycho-sound barrier of 3%. What happened last time this phenomenon occurred? Well, yields bounced off and fell – because the mayhem they’d triggered gave the Fed conniptions and caused it to back off.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Financial Engineering Wildest Since The 2007 Bubble
Financial engineering had a glorious year. Now finally, after five years, the crazy fun is back, and the good thing is: this time, it’s different. This time, the smart money is selling!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Multi-Pronged Mortgage Debacle Next Year (So Long, “Housing Recovery”)
Now part three, after soaring home prices and mortgage rates. It was drowned out by the hullaballoo over the Fed’s taper announcement. It came from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It will drive up mortgage payments even more.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Junk-Debt Time Bomb: Ticking Till The Fed’s Money Dries Up
Discount retailer Loehmann’s did what other retailers – and a large number of other junk-rated companies – will do once the Fed allows a sense of reality into the markets: it filed for bankruptcy. Investors had refused to fund further losses.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Fear and Trembling In Muni Land
Municipal bond investors, a conservative bunch eager to avoid rollercoasters and cliffhangers, are getting frazzled. Bankruptcies and the Fed’s taper cacophony are a toxic mix. So they’re bailing out of muni bond funds at record rate. Losses are mounting. And so are the fears.
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Mother Of All Currency Wars in One Chart: Dollar Vs. Swiss Franc
The destruction of the dollar – so clearly visible against the Swiss Franc – took on a sudden virulent form in 1970. It has been going on just about all my life. And it’s still going on. When even the Swiss couldn’t handle it anymore, they too jumped into the currency war.
