Salient to Investors: Bill Gross at Pimco raised Treasuries holdings to 39 percent in April, the highest level since July 2010, and warned that investors face potential losses from global central banks’ unprecedented monetary stimulus. Gross said Treasuries are a better alternative than cash, and negative real interest rates, inflation, currency
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The 4-week average of applications for unemployment insurance over the past month fell to the lowest level since November 2007, showing employers have enough confidence to hold onto workers. Consumer sentiment last week held around the highest level in 5 years. Guy Berger at RBS Securities said there is only
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Regional lenders were the primary source of loans for landlords buying properties before the real estate collapse crash. Since then, at least 475 banks have failed and larger banks have tightened mortgage underwriting standards and are focusing on the biggest investors. Home prices are 29 percent below the 2006 peak. Millions of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Nouriel Roubini writes: For the next year or so, as long as the economy grows 1.5-2%, and you have easy money, the market can go higher. Growth is slow, earnings growth is slowing down. both top and bottom lines are not as good as they were, but
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Stephen Burd at the New America Foundation found almost two-thirds of private colleges for the 2010-2011 school year required students from families making $30,000 or less annually to pay more than $15,000 a year. 11 percent of students at Harvard and 14 percent at Yale received Pell
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The wealth effect from rising house prices may no longer be as effective in spurring the US economy as homeowners increasingly pay down mortgage principal and shorten maturities. Freddie Mac said cash-in refinancings outnumbered cash-outs by more than 2-to-1 in Q4 2012. Amir Sufi at the University of Chicago said the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria said: A recent Pew survey found that only 51 percent of Americans think it’s essential to act on immigration reform this year, versus 70 percent who demand a deficit reduction deal this year, despite the wealth of data that shows that immigration reform will lead
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Mohamed El-Erian at Pimco said the inherent momentum of the US economy is still weak so the Fed may increase its efforts to support the economy following a meeting tomorrow by changing the narrative away from the Fed taking its foot off the accelerator. Kei Katayama at Daiwa SB Investments is below
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeremy Grantham at GMO says: The global economy is reckless in its use of all resources and natural systems and is showing many of the indicators of potential failure that brought down so many civilizations. Civilizations have an average lifespan of around 250 years. Failing civilizations suffered
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Tech, energy and financial stocks are the most inexpensive industries in the S&P 500 with multiples of less than 14 times earnings. US tech stocks, the second-best industry of the past decade, are at 13 times projected earnings, the lowest level versus the S&P 500 in at least 7 years. Analysts
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