Salient to Investors: India may increase import taxes for a second time in 2013 to narrow a widening current-account deficit, 80 percent of which is due to gold imports, curbing demand for gold in jewelry and investment. Monal Thakkar at importer Amrapali said increasing the duty will encourage smuggling keeping India as the number
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Banks that agreed to help troubled borrowers as part of a settlement with regulators over foreclosure misdeeds are spending most of the promised aid on short sales and forgiveness of home-equity loans that allow them to take bad loans off their books. Arthur Wilmarth at George Washington University said banks
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Ira Jersey at Credit Suisse said a modest uptick in inflation, but not a crazy uptick, gives the Fed more leeway by showing it their policies seem to be working. Bill Gross at Pimco said the Fed may halt bond buying in January 2014, depending on the pace of the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mark Andersen at UBS said the FOMC minutes may have started an adjustment process for the markets, with realism setting in with investors. Anderson said you can’t have both stronger growth and ever-expanding balance sheets at central banks, so their members are starting to consider the longer-term
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Pew Research Center said: 24.7 million millennial households have reduced the debt they owe on homes, cars and credit cards some 4 times faster than their elders, but college loans are an exception. Student loans more than doubled in the last decade for households led by those under 35
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Freddie Mac said the 30-yr fixed mortgage rate averaged 3.56 percent in the past week, the highest level since August 30, 2012, while the average 15-year rate held at 2.77 percent. Celia Chen at Moody’s Analytics said mortgage rates are still very, very low and will stay low
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Joaquim Levy at Bradesco Asset Mgmt said the Bovespa index may rally 25 percent to 70,000 as the economic rebound offsets the raising of interest rates by July by the central bank to combat inflation. Levy said the government will have to stop making noises that could erode investors’ confidence
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Bloomberg National Poll: 43 percent expect job growth to rise over the next 12 months, 26 percent expect a decline, and 30 percent expect little change. 37 percent expect a stronger economy, 25 percent disagree, 37 percent expect little change. 32 percent expect their financial security
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Aaron Kohli at BNP Paribas said that until the economy improves, the Fed will err on the side of easing. Bill Gross at Pimco said the Fed minutes suggest continued Fed purchases are at risk if the economy improves. Will Tseng at Mirae Asset cites bearish momentum in the Treasury market as
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Michael T. Snyder writes: The US economy is slowing down – freight volumes and expenditures are way down, consumer confidence is down sharply, major retail chains are closing hundreds of stores, the sequester threatens to bring austerity. gas prices are rising rapidly, corporate insiders are dumping massive
READ MORE... →