Bernanke Plays It Safe
Today’s FOMC decision is kind of a dud. They played it pretty much as safe as they could: they cut 25, as everyone was expecting, and they made only very, very slight adjustment to the accompanying statement (FOMC April 30…
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Bulls Have Eye Of The Tiger Ahead Of Fed
Risin up, back on the street Did my time, took my chances Went the distance now I’m back on my feet Just a man and his will to survive Its the eye of the tiger, Its the thrill of the…
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The Front Page WSJ Article That’s Driving Todays Trading
The Federal Reserve is likely to cut its short-term interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point next week — but then may be ready for a breather. – Greg Ip, “Fed May Consider Pause In Rate Cuts” (subscription…
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Second Guessing The Maestro: Greenspan’s Reputation Under Fire
Indeed, recent research within the Federal Reserve suggests that many homeowners might have saved tens of thousands of dollars had they held adjustable-rate mortgages rather than fixed-rate mortgages during the past decade, though this would not have been the case,…
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Bernanke Uses The “R” Word
A recession is possible….. Our estimates are that we’re slightly growing at the moment, but we think that there’s a chance that for the first half as a whole there might be a slight contraction. – Fed Chairman Bernanke (subscription required),…
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Irwin Kellner: Money Supply Growth “Jaw Dropping”
The money supply’s rate of growth is nothing short of jaw dropping. – Irwin Kellner, “Follow the money”, Marketwatch, Tuesday March 25 According to economist Irwin Kellner in an article on Marketwatch today, M2 money supply grew at annualized rate…
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Fed Cuts 75 – Statement Gives Increased Weight To Inflation Concerns
After cutting rates dramatically (125 basis points cumulative) on Jan 22 and Jan 30 and notably weighting their concern towards economic growth, the Fed slowed down a bit today with a 75 basis point cut. It is a big cut…
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50, 75, 100? What Will The Fed Do At 2:15pm EST?
The market is off to an excellent start today on the strength of not disastrous earnings reports from investment banks Lehman Brothers (LEH) and Goldman Sachs (GS). Financials (XLF) are leading the way with a gain of greater than 6%….
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Get Your Popcorn Ready: JP Morgan To Acquire Bear Stearns For $2 A Share In Stock
JP Morgan (JPM) is going to acquire Bear Stearns (BSC) for $2 a share in stock. The Fed is also somehow involved providing “special financing” (JPM Press Release, Fed Press Release). A lot of the talk this weekend was on…
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$1000 Gold? 100 Yen Per $? – This Is A Dollar Crisis
Gold briefly touched $1000 an ounce this morning – an all time high (Gold 5 Year Chart). The Yen/$ briefly dipped below 100 this morning – just below very long term support at lows from early 2005 and late 1999…