Banks and Macroeconomic Models
by Steve Randy Waldman, Interfluidity.com
There
has been a recrudescence of blogospheric argument on the nature of
commercial banks, whether they are best considered 'financial
intermediaries' not unlike mutual funds or insurance companies, or
whether they are something different, in particular, whether their
ability to issue liabilities that are near-perfect substitutes for base
money renders them special in macroeconomically important ways.
See e.g. Cullen Roche, Winterspeak, Ramanan,
and Paul Krugman.
Investing.com Weekly Wrap-Up 30 August 2013
by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
U.S. stocks fall on rekindling Syrian concerns; Dow down 0.21%
U.S. stocks fell on Friday after the U.S.
government laid out a case to launch limited military strikes against
Syria though no plans are etched in stone as of
now.
At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished
down 0.21%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.32%, while the Nasdaq Composite
index fell 0.84%.
Volatility Marks Market Session As Investors Seek Shelter
Closing Market Commentary For 08-30-2013
The last 15 minutes was interesting as
the markets started a downhill rush to today's previous low at 1 pm and
then started to soar back up. The DOW made a 55 point recovery in less
than 5 minutes only to fall back 13 point with heavy red volume.
By 4 pm most of the large caps slowed
their decent modestly while the small caps took it on the chin leading
the percentage off list.
What We Read Today 30 August 2013
Econintersect: Click Read more >> below graphic to see today's list.
The top of today's reading list
reports on bond guru Jeffrey Gundlach's switch to bearish on bonds
........ and the last article is about FSB attempts to cut down on
securities lending and short-term selling by shadow banks.
Investors Uncertain Over Geopolitical Mess, Markets Depressed
Midday Market Commentary For 08-30-2013
Markets at noontime have been sliding,
more or less, downwards on relatively low volume. Much uncertainty
prevails among investors and traders alike after the UK withdrew it
support for the United States unilateral actions on Syria in protest
against its use of military weapons on civilians. The prospect of the
Fed withdrawing stimulus and the geopolitical tensions lead the market
worries and indices are likely to be confined to recent trading ranges.
By noon we have a lackluster, low volume go-home early market that promises to be more of the same.
Public Shaming Gone Too Far?
Though
we can generally agree that thieves should be taught a lesson, is
public shaming and humiliation a reasonable form of punishment?
Markets Open Off, Cautiously Melting Down
Opening Market Commentary For 08-30-2013
Premarkets were quiet and remained even
with yesterday's closing numbers until the opening. This mornings
financials reported that US Consumption, Spending and Personal Income
were all down, -1.2%, -0.1% and -0.1% respectively. The Chicago PMI came
in at 53.0 as expected and the U of Michigan Confidence came in at
82.1, higher than expected. Mixed news, so how are the markets going to
react to this crop of bad reports?
Large caps opened down -0.1% on low
volume (and falling) while the small caps lead the way down at 0.45%. By
10 am the $VIX had reached 17.10, highest since July, and the market
flavor of the morning is negative, potentially terrifying.
23 August 2013: ECRI's WLI Growth Again Declines Marginally
ECRI's
WLI Growth Index declined, but remains positive. A positive number
predicts positive growth to come within the next six months.
Final August 2013 Michigan Consumer Sentiment Up But Under Last Month's Level
by Doug Short, Advisor Perspectives/dshort.com
The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment final number for August
came in at 82.1. Today's number is above theInvesting.com forecast of
80.5 and an improvement over the August preliminary 80.0, but it is
still three points off the July final of 85.1.
Read more >>
August 2013 Chicago Purchasing Managers Barometer Again Improves Slightly
Econintersect:
The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index improved slightly for the second
month in a row after June's largest drop in almost five years.
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Personal Consumption Weak In July 2013
Written by Steven Hansen
Positive news on Real Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) and
Real
Disposable Personal Income (DPI) were mixed. The headline non-inflation
adjusted value PCE and DPI improved. But there is little good news in
this data for those looking for economic expansion (consumer did not
consume).
Read more >>
August Market Update
Online Trading Academy Article of the Week
by Brandon Wendell, Online Trading Academy
There has been much debate by the talking
heads about whether the current bull-run in equities is coming to an
end. Rather than debating the Fed's potential 'tapering' or other
events, I choose to focus on what really matters, the charts.
Sequester Fallout: Emigrating Scientists
Econintersect:
While many political figures support making it easier for foreign
scientists to immigrate to the U.S., the 2013 sequestration budget cuts
are reducing research funding. As a result some scientists already in
the U.S. are considering emigrating to find support for their work in
other countries.
Investing.com: Technical Analysis 29 August 2013
Investing.com Technical Analysis (as of Thu, 29 August 2013 05:00pm EDT)
by Investing.com Staff, Investing.com
Below, technical overviews and analysis for key stock indices, commodities and
currency
pairs, based on market activity at the close of the 29 August 2013 U.S.
session. This information is a comprehensive summary derived from
simple and exponential moving averages along with key technical
indicators shown for specific time intervals.
Japan: Inflation Rises But Far From Target
Econintersect:
The inflation readings have been released for Japan for July. The CPI
(Consumer Price Index) recorded a gain of 0.7% over the level for August
2012. This was the highest reading since late 2008. However, energy and
energy dependent factors provided all of the gain; the core CPI,
excluding food and energy, was -0.1%. This indicates contraction but was
one of the smallest contractions in quite some time.
Second Quarter Witnesses A Good Run for Economy
August 29, 2013 - BEA Revises 2nd Quarter 2013 GDP Growth Upward To 2.52% Annual Rate
by Rick Davis, Consumer Metrics Institute
In
their second estimate of the US GDP for the second quarter of 2013, the
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported that the economy was growing
at a 2.52% annualized rate, up from the 1.68% growth rate previously
reported for the quarter. The upward revision resulted almost
exclusively from the BEA's restatement of the foreign trade numbers,
with improved new numbers for both exports and imports contributing
equally to the upswing.
Read more >>
Infographic of the Day: Phishing
Millions
of phishing emails are sent out everyday disguising themselves as
messages from trusted sources. However, these emails have malicious
intent and clicking on their links or downloading their attachments can
do major harm. Here are some tips to avoid getting phished.
Fed's Balance Sheet 28 August 2013: Another Record
Total Fed Balance Sheet
Fed's Balance Sheet is
$3.601 trillion (down from the last week's record $3.590 trillion). The
complete balance sheet data and graphical breakdown of the cumulative
and weekly changes follows the "read more".
Read more >>
The United States Ranks 13th in Smartphone Penetration
by Felix Richter, Statista.com
Three in four people in the United Arab
Emirates own a smartphone. The UAE tops the list of countries with the
highest smartphone penetration ahead of South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
The United States is ranked 13th with a penetration rate of 56 percent.
