Sign inRecent Commentaries tagged (bonds)
On Credit & Equity
Jake at Econompic Data had a good post on credit and equity. (He runs a good site generally.) They are correlated, but not all of the time. As I commented: When yields are low, equities thrive because financing costs are low. When the defaults come, future equity returns are low, because...
El-Erian: Investors must keep cash, “retain optionality”
Investors should be holding healthy levels of cash in order to take advantage of “known unknowns” that become clearer as the economy evolves, Mohamed El-Erian, co-CEO of Pimco, told CNBC. “There are cyclical tailwinds for now that are going to overcome the structural headwinds,” he said, adding...
Where to Invest, When Interest Rates are so Low
Unlike most people who analyze investments, I think there are periods of time where domestic long-only investors may be consigned to low or even negative returns. As investors, we are generally optimists; we don’t like can’t win situations like the Kobayashi Maru. When money market funds offer...
Chart Presentation: Hang Seng 19,500
There were a few developments within the markets that caught our attention over the past day. The equity markets were somewhat weaker in Asia, for example, while copper prices fell close to the lowest levels in two weeks. Wal Mart’s stock price finally climbed above 55 (WMT tends to trade flat...
Dumb Regulation is Good Regulation — How to Regulate the Banks
Should regulation be dumb? In one sense yes, in others, no. It really depends on how well the regulators understand the risks involved, and how much they can encourage professionalism among profit center heads and risk managers. As those two increase, regulation can be smart. “Follow these...
Chart Presentation: Japan
One of the more interesting side issues this week will involve whatever decision or non-decision the Bank of Japan makes with regard to additional quantitative easing measures. As is almost always the case it isn’t the news that is important but rather the market’s reaction to the news. Those...
Words from the (investment) wise for the week that was (March 8–14, 2010)
Shrugging off some lingering reminders of the credit crisis and recession, investors last week marked the one-year anniversary of the bear market low by pushing many benchmark equity indices to cycle highs. Wall Street scaled 17-month highs on the back of easing concerns of sovereign debt...
A Few Notes From the Fordham Conference
I will have a more comprehensive post tomorrow on my thoughts on bank regulation, but I will offer a few thoughts here. One thing I found interesting at the conference was what did not get much play in terms of what helped to create the crisis. It was fascinating that no one talked about why...
At the Fordham Conference: Creative Ideas for Limiting Bank Risk
Cornelius Hurley argues that banks are implicitly and explicitly subsidized, and that they need to return the subsidy. Dean Baker argues for a transfer tax, and weakening the political power of financial institutions. Really tangential to the point of the conference. I’m not sure it would help...
At the Fordham Conference: Where We Are and How We Got There
First panel deals with James Kwak: Funding costs were overly low at the major banks. Alleges too big to fail, but big banks were highly rated. My experience is that small banks equally good as large banks have much higher fundung costs. Richard Carnell: hits the nail on the head — Regulators...
The Rules, Part IV
Okay, here is tonight’s rule: Governments that scam the asset markets (and their citizens) take all manner of half measures to defend failed policies before undertaking structural reform. (This includes defending the currency, some asset sales, anything that avoids true shrinkage of the role of...
Interesting Links
For your reading pleasure a few interesting articles from around the globe about dividends, stocks, the market and other just plain interesting finance or economic oriented articles- enjoy! Great Chart Showing how the recession has impacted workers with differing education levels A dangerous...
Interesting Links
For your reading pleasure a few interesting articles from around the globe about dividends, stocks, the market and other just plain interesting finance or economic oriented articles- enjoy! Great Chart Showing how the recession has impacted workers with differing education levels A dangerous...
Chart Presentation: Out of the Blue
March 10 (Bloomberg) — The worst of Greece’s financial crisis is over and other European nations won’t follow in its path, said former European Commission President Romano Prodi. It often feels as if markets crises appear right out of the blue. Typically, however, a problem builds until it hits...
The Rules, Part III
Okay, here is tonight’s rule: The assumption of normality for asset price changes is wrong in virtually every financial market setting. The proper distributions are fatter tailed and more negatively skewed. Normality allows researchers to publish, regardless of the truth. Normality allows risk...
