Salient to Investors: James Hamilton at the University of California said interest rates are climbing as asset purchases help bolster confidence in economic growth. Hamilton said the economy picking up puts upward pressure on yields regardless of what the Fed is doing on the bond supply side, pleasing the Fed. Jonathan Wright at Johns Hopkins said
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: GDP in Q4 2012 was weaker than any economist forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Paul Edelstein at IHS Global Insight said this is not a recessionary signal by any means, but a payback in national defense spending, with consumer spending picking up and fixed investment strong. David Greenlaw and Ted
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The median economist expects the Fed’s latest round of bond buying to reach $1.14 trillion before he ends the program in Q1 2014, and the economy to grow 2 percent in 2013 versus the FOMC forecast of 2.3 percent to 3 percent. 57 percent of economists said the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jay Wong at Payden & Rygel said continued earnings beats is helping drive the market, which has a lot of momentum. The Index of consumer confidence was the weakest since November 2011 and lower than the most pessimistic forecast in a Bloomberg survey. 75 percent of the 179 S&P
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: These are boom times for farming and a bust for farm jobs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers will see the steepest decline of any employment category by 2020. David Anderson at Texas A&M said one-quarter of farms have sales under $100,000 annually
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Ezra Klein writes: The most important piece of economic policy in 2013 is immigration reform. A tenth of the US population is foreign-born. Over 25% of US technology and engineering businesses started from 1995 to 2005 had a foreign-born owner, while half of all tech startups in Silicon Alley had
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values increased 5.5 percent from November 2011, the biggest year-over-year gain since August 2006. The NAR said the 1.82 million existing homes on the market last month were the fewest since January 2001. Mortgage rates near a record low are propelling demand that’s outpacing supply. Freddie
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Sean Callow at Westpac Banking expects clear reiteration from the Fed that quantitative easing will continue for some time. Callow said the strong dollar story is tough to make right now, and the growth differential will be supportive for the euro against the dollar in the next few
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: A. Gary Shilling at A. Gary Shilling & Co writes: In periods of prolonged economic pain, international cooperation gives way to an every-nation-for-itself attitude, including competitive devaluations. Decreasing the value of a currency, by creating and selling unlimited quantities, is much easier than supporting it, by selling
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Gina Martin Adams at Wells Fargo Securities says: Investors should go against the herd as the market is overbought and sentiment is at levels seen at peaks and tops, fundamentals are weak with economic data in January missing expectations, and there is consistent deceleration in earnings growth. Improving housing
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