Obama-Congress U.S. Budget Battle Benefits From No Grand Bargain – Bloomberg 01-09-13

Salient to Investors: History shows that presidents’ most ambitious ventures often create as many problems as they solve. Barbara Perry at the University of Virginia said presidents act first and think later about the long-term consequences. best packages Obama’s long-run budget forecasts call for exploding deficits beyond the customary 10-year planning period

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Major Bank, Economists Agree: Market Collapse Will Strike in 2013 – Money News 01-09-13

Salient to Investors: JPMorgan report that stocks have retraced the pattern from the last two big market rallies and now face a decline in 2013 of over 50%. Nouriel Roubini at NYU says there is a chance of an economic “perfect storm” in 2013 due to a worsening eurozone crisis,

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Cheap Money Era That Saved U.S. Housing Seen Bottoming – Bloomberg 01-07-13

Salient to Investors: The era of increasingly cheap money is showing signs of ending in the mortgage bond market. Bill Gross at Pimco said bond investors should anticipate reduced returns as bets on mortgage securities are over in terms of the capital appreciation – expect total returns in 2013 of 3 to 4 percent. Brean

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Bulls Boost Wagers as Prices Rally for Fourth Week: Commodities – Bloomberg 01-06-13

Salient to Investors: Rob Haworth at US Bank Wealth Mgmt said 2012 saw much liquidating by hedge funds, but there’s an incentive to reverse that because of growth in emerging markets and especially China – it’s going to be a good year for commodities. The median economist expects China to accelerate for at

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No New Normal as Stocks to Bonds Rallied Like the 1990s – Bloomberg 01-06-13

Salient to Investors: Jay Schwister at Baird Advisors said Pimco underestimated how big the policy response would be and what type of positive impact it would have on financial markets, despite the new normal they forecast is playing out. Saumil Parikh at Pimco said policy distortions cannot continue indefinitely, so 2013

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S&P 500 Climbs to 5-Year High as Treasuries Erase Drop – Bloomberg 01-04-13

Salient to Investors: Joseph Tanious at JPMorgan Funds said the jobs report shows the labor market is healing very slowly, so not so good that the Fed might pull out of QE. Deutsche Bank said supply chain movements suggest iPhone and iPad production may be declining. Mohamed El-Erian at Pimco said 7.8 percent unemployment shows

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