Welcome to the new year! Let’s get you started with our hand curated morning train reads:
• Sometimes talk of a tech bubble is mostly babble (SF Gate) see e.g., Tech Stocks: Sizing Up the New Bubble (Barron’s)
• Interview with Mario Draghi, President of the ECB (Europa/ECB)
• How to Keep Your Portfolio on Track: 31 Rules to Guide Your Investments This Year (WSJ)
• Good Times Teach Only Bad Lessons (Reformed Broker)
• Hedge Fund ETFs Outperform Hedge Funds: Exchange-traded funds are criticized for not mimicking Hedgies well enough. In 2014, that proved to be an advantage (Barron’s)
How easy money has cracked the global economy – Satyajit Das
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-easy-money-has-cracked-the-global-economy-2015-01-05
A dire but in my view fairly accurate depiction of the true state of affairs. Of course, this is all the more reason why policy makers (read: asset price setters) will continue to inflate assets to beyond the stratospheric levels they already have. As the Fed gives lip service to raising rates, other major central banks continue to ramp up their own QE programs. It’s temporary, emergency “stimulus” in perpetuity.
New Years Resolutions:
Isn’t it interesting that the top 6 items fade quickly post February? The gyms have to hustle as the fall off rate reaches its peak after about 6 weeks max.
The other interesting point: almost no one wishes to get politically involved. Members of congress will certainly be smiling. As will their campaign supporters and beneficiaries.
The most unusually common name in 36 jobs (Vox) the most common financial blogger’s name is?
Meet the man who predicted Fox News, the Internet, Stephen Colbert and reality TV (Salon)
Oil Below $60 Tests Economics of U.S. Shale Boom (Bloomberg)
Today’s quote of the day is a classic
“I do not care about the output of your cognitive biases, I am disinterested in the myths you cherish, I care little for the mass media rumors that influence you, or the heuristics you believe in. I especially detest the unsupported, commonly believed narratives that you constantly use in the artificial construct you erroneously call ‘reality’.” -Barry Ritholtz
From the NYT:
“Here’s How Lack of Competition Can Hurt Consumers”
“A new study of the mortgage market nicely highlights just how little it can take to undermine competition to the point that it starts costing customers……
The paper is both a critique of a specific government initiative — a refinancing program created after the financial crisis — and a clever use of that program to examine what happens when an industry’s rule are suddenly changed……..
The toll on each borrower was relatively modest. For every $100,000 borrowed at an interest rate of 4 percent, the borrower would pay an extra $139 in interest each year. But when all those extra payments were totaled, the windfall for the lenders was enormous. The transfer of wealth from borrowers to lenders as a consequence of the government’s rules is at least $1 billion a year, according to the paper.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/upshot/heres-how-lack-of-competition-can-hurt-consumers.html
Here’s the GOP Media Machine confirming the quote of the day…. from Mississippi no less.
“…Even though the $483 billion deficit for 2014 was the smallest since President George W. Bush’s last full year in office..”
http://www.sunherald.com/2015/01/05/6000960/5-things-to-know-about-the-new.html
So they think their “full year” qualification will cut it? Unfortunately for the Ignorant, the Budget that the President sets is for the NEXT year and so Obama’s first year IN office is Bush’s last budget and the Federal had a TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT in Bush’s last budget.
So this Mississippi Newspaper is just outright ignorant.
Yet another argument for liberalizing contraceptive and abortion laws in Ole Miss.
Once more into the breach;http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2014-data-breaches/
@VennData, I think you’re being charitable when you say the Mississippi newspaper is being ignorant. I suspect they know very well that they are full of shit.
All the screamers who blame the > $1T annual deficit that Obama inherited on Day 1 of him taking office, and who continue to scream about “Obama’s deficit” are, at best, ignorant. However, some are deliberately misleading, and I suspect the Mississipi paper is the latter.