Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Saturday, March 20, 2010
Faber Expects U.S. Interest Rates to Stay at Zero Forever (Below the Rate of Inflation) / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
"I think interest rates forever in the US will be at zero. By zero I mean below the rate of inflation" Marc Faber told CNBC. A slowing U.S. Economy will be followed by more money printing that will prevent a stock market crash. Eventually Governments will go bust, but before they will go bust they will print a lot of money.
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Friday, March 19, 2010
The Taylor Rule Tool for Predicting Fed Interest Rate Policy / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
Bud Conrad, Editor, The Casey Report writes: On March 3, I heard John Taylor over lunch at the San Francisco Federal Reserve. In his talk he reviewed the government’s bailouts and their effects on our economy. If you aren’t familiar with Taylor, he co-authored, along with Bob Hall, the macroeconomics textbook most widely used these days. In addition, he served as undersecretary of the Treasury in the early Bush years where, among other responsibilities, he was tasked with bringing a new currency to Iraq.
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Friday, March 19, 2010
Another Challenge for Government Bonds? / Interest-Rates / International Bond Market
It should be pretty clear that I’m bearish on the bond market. The massive budget deficits and debts we’re racking up should hammer Treasury prices. So should the steadily growing concern about the credit quality of sovereign debts.
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Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Great Credit Squeeze 2010 / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2010
If you think that the sovereign debt crisis is mostly behind us … that America’s federal deficit is turning into a non-issue … or that we can just go back to business as usual … you’d better consider the drama now unfolding in the hard numbers just released last week:
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Sunday, March 14, 2010
Tison's Fiasco: Your Money's at Risk and You Don't Know It. / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
I walked the streets of Tison's Landing yesterday...
I admired the incredible neighborhood center for the use of residents, complete with soccer fields and the largest, most fully stocked playgrounds for kids I've ever seen.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
U.S. Treasury Bonds, It's All The Same Trade! / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
One of the frustrating aspects about this market environment is that all assets look like the same trade. Betting on equities is a bet against bonds or vice a versa, betting on bonds is a bet against equities. It is that simple. Consequently, using a tactical asset allocation strategy makes it hard to diversify away my risk as I end up being all in on essentially what has become the same trade.
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Monday, March 08, 2010
Tax Payer Bailed Out Banks Over Charging on Mortgage Interest Rates / Interest-Rates / Mortgages
Last week saw the one year anniversary of the Bank of England dropping its base rate to the historic low level of 0.50%.
During the last year some of the biggest lenders increased competitiveness, while others appear less willing or able to do so.
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Sunday, March 07, 2010
U.S. Treasury Scrambling to Offload Junk Bought During 2009 Bailout Frenzy / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
With global investors attacking any sovereign government that’s running massive deficits or stuck with a pile of bad debts …
And with Uncle Sam obviously the world’s greatest debtor, beggar and fiat money printer …
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Friday, March 05, 2010
Brits Pounded As Debts and Deficits Hit Home. Next the U.S. / Interest-Rates / UK Debt
Boy are things getting ugly in the U.K. The British currency, the pound, is getting crushed. The price of long-term British debt securities, called gilts, is heading down. And the cost of default insurance on the country’s debt is rising steadily.
My takeaway: This is but a preview of what’s to come here in the U.S.
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Friday, March 05, 2010
U.S. Treasury Bonds, Till Debt Do Us Part / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Millions, billions, trillions. It is hard to wrap your brain around numbers that big, but I think our politicians don’t even bother to try.
On February 1, President Obama released his 2010 budget that projects the U.S. deficit to grow to a record $1.56 trillion, an increase over last year’s record of $1.4 trillion deficit.
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Friday, March 05, 2010
Prospects for U.S. Dollar Treasury Debt Exports / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Prospects Not Good for What Was Once One of USA’s Greatest Export Success.
Beginning in the late nineties up to 2007 exports of debt (at that time mainly private sector “products”, now called “legacy” or “toxic”), was America’s biggest export category accounting for 21% of total exports (including debt) compared to 19% for Capital Goods (including autos and auto parts which were 4%).
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Friday, March 05, 2010
U.S. Negative Real Interest Rates, Case-Shiller CPI Now Tracking CPI-U / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
It's been about 4-5 months since I last talked about Case-Shiller CPI (CS-CPI). Case-Shiller CPI is formulated by substituting the Case-Shiller housing index for Owner's Equivalent Rent (OER) in the CPI for all urban consumers (CPI-U) index, commonly shortened to CPI.
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Thursday, March 04, 2010
Three ETFS to Protect From Rising Interest Rates / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
Wall Street is obsessed with interest rates. Many consumers are, too, especially anyone who wants to buy a home or car.
There’s a good reason for this: Debt — or you might call it “leverage” — is the lubricant that keeps the financial markets moving. Imagine a car without oil … it would soon grind to halt. The same is true of the modern economy.
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Thursday, March 04, 2010
ECB - Greece is Convincing / Interest-Rates / ECB Interest Rates
At its monthly press conference, European Central Bank (ECB) President Trichet announced a further gradual reduction of emergency lending facilities. Focus of the meeting was the fiscal austerity package passed by Greece's parliament the previous day. Unlike previous commentaries, Trichet was full of praise for Greece, saying it was "extremely important that the decisions taken by Greece could be convincing because they would credibilize [sic] the adjustment program that was absolutely necessary."
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Thursday, March 04, 2010
Marc Faber Discusses U.S. Debt Default and Hyper Inflation / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Marc Faber sets out how he expects the U.S. will handle the growing debt mountain by first monetizing the debt, then defaulting on interest payments to foreigners as the U.S. inflates the debt away through high inflation or even hyper inflation.
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Thursday, March 04, 2010
Investors Beware of Government Bonds / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
I. The Incentives for Holding and Issuing Government DebtMany people invest their savings in government bonds. They are obviously of the opinion that government bonds offer an attractive yield and represent fairly little risk.
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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Long-end Treasuries Drives Valuation Of Stocks And Real Estate: Where Are They Going? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
Not many people say this, but recently I noticed one of the guys at Minyanville saying…out of the blue, that the “fundamental” value of a stock is the best estimate of what the earnings will be discounted using the best estimate of what the 30 Year will be.
I almost had a heart attack!
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Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Bernanke on a Bailout of the U.S. Treasury / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
On February 10, Ben Bernanke testified to the House Financial Services Committee. The topic: "Federal Reserve's exit strategy." His printed testimony contained the familiar promises. The Federal Reserve System will unwind when the economy recovers. Speaking of the TAF and TALF programs, he said:
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Tuesday, March 02, 2010
An Attempt to Think Through the Greek Debt Crisis / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Today I am sitting listening to Ralph Merkle lecture on nanotechnology, part of a 9-day-long series of lectures on how accelerating change in technologies of all types will affect our world. 15-hour days and intense discussions are stretching my brain, but I still have to make sure you get your Outside the Box. Fortunately, I came across today's OTB last week from my friends at GaveKal, who offer a way to think about the Greek crisis and what it means for all European bonds.
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Monday, March 01, 2010
The Real Cause of Hyperinflation / Interest-Rates / HyperInflation
In his weekly letter, John Mauldin concluded that we have not experienced hyperinflation (despite massive Fed “printing”) due to the fact that the money multiplier has fallen and fallen below 1.0. This means that for each additional $1 added to the monetary base, the money supply is changing by less than $1. In other words, banks are not lending and so the velocity of money is declining.
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