Salient to Investors: New York Fed President William Dudley said the gap between bond yields and home-loan rates is blunting the economic benefits of the Fed’s record accommodation. Stephen Stanley at Pierpont Securities said banks are disinclined to lower mortgage rates. David Cannon at Royal Bank of Scotland said banks are reluctant to hire
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Fareed Zakaria writes: Pete Peterson says the current deficit is not the problem, and is even in favor of additional stimulus spending. His overriding concern has always been the the massive structural deficits we face as baby boomers start retiring. In 1900, 1 in 25 Americans was
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Manish Singh at Crossbridge Capital said the broad expectation is there will be no disaster over the fiscal cliff, and investors are getting excited about Japan again. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-21/european-stocks-post-fifth-weekly-gain-sbm-shares-surge.html. Click here to receive free email alerts of articles as soon as they are posted.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Average incomes for individuals ages 25 to 34 have fallen 8 percent, double the adult population’s total drop, since December 2007, while their unemployment rate remains one-half to 1 percent above the national figure. Cliff Zukin at Rutgers said generation Y will be permanently depressed and on a lower
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Zillow expects home values to continue to rise in 2013. Low interest rates, improving employment and prices almost 30 percent below the July 2006 peak have attracted buyers and a limited inventory of homes for sale have pushed up prices. Stan Humphries at Zillow said housing has turned a corner in 2012, as historic affordability and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: 27 US states showed signs of economic improvement. Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois posted four of the eight biggest gains for Q3 over Q2. California, District of Columbia, Florida, Arizona and North Dakota improved. The largest declines were in Vermont, followed by New Mexico, Alaska, Wyoming and New Hampshire. Florida’s
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Index of Leading Indicators fell in November, pointing to a slowdown in the economy in early 2013 as companies curb investment and global growth cools. Russell Price at Ameriprise Financial says the economy is moving sideways and expects a weak Q4. Ken Goldstein at the Conference Board said growth will be slow
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: In the wake of the school shootings in Newtown, prices for handgun magazines are surging on EBay and semi-automatic rifles are sold out at many Wal-Mart stores . Wal-Mart said it would continue to sell guns, including rifles like the one used at Newtown. Dick’s Sporting Goods suspended sales of
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: By 2015, firearm fatalities will probably exceed traffic fatalities for the first time. 85 Americans are shot dead daily, 53 of them suicides. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports motor-vehicle deaths dropped 22 percent from 2005 to 2010, gun fatalities are rising again after a low point
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Stephen Roach at Yale said: The fiscal cliff is moonshine, designed to make the politicians look good ‘saving’ America. We are not going to go over the cliff as even dysfunctional politicians know it would be political and economic suicide. Expect a phony deal of $10 trillion back loaded in years 8, 9 and
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