Salient to Investors: The US is almost free of imported energy dependence and positioned to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s No. 1 producer of oil, whether oil is $60 or $120. The IEA said America’s 6.8 million barrels a day in November was 30 percent less than Saudi Arabia’s 9.7 million,
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: In a Bloomberg poll: 38 percent say the US is on the right track, the best reading since September 2009, while 55 percent say the US is on the wrong track. 48 percent approve of Obama’s handling of the economy, 48 percent disapprove. 31 percent expect a better year
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The bond market shows no anxiety of inflation risk – the break-even rate for 5-yr TIPS, or yield difference between inflation-linked debt and Treasuries, is 2.07 percent. The median economist expects growth of 2.2 percent in 2012 and 2 percent in 2013. Dean Maki at Barclays is convinced the Fed will get it just right,, and thus is providing
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Saumil Parikh at Pimco said: Global growth will slow to 1.3 percent to 1.8 percent from 2 percent in 2012 as the private sector isn’t healthy enough to step in and extend credit amid deleveraging. The average economist expects growth of 2.5 percent in 2013. Central banks are effective
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Paul Ballew at Dun & Bradstreet said the bigger question is that after four years of aggressive monetary policy, whether or not anything else will really make a material difference on the direction of the recovery. The ZEW Center for European Economic Research said its index of investor and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: 48 of 49 economists predict the FOMC will buy Treasuries to increase its program to buy $40 billion in mortgage bonds each month, and expect the Fed to wait until its March 19-20 meeting before adopting thresholds on unemployment and inflation.The median economist expects Fed purchases at least through Q1 2014. Economists expect a
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Paul Krogman writes: The American economy is by most measures deeply depressed. Corporate profits are at a record high because capital is grabbing an ever-larger slice at labor’s expense. The wage gap between those with a college education and those without grew a lot in the 1980s and early 1990s but hasn’t
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Robert Frank at Cornell University writes: For his cameo appearance in the movie “Analyze This”, Warner Brothers ended up paying Tony Bennett $200,000 instead of the $15,000 they first offered because they did not make their offer at the outset when they would have had much more leverage. computer with bad credit Republicans
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bill Gross at Pimco said: Interest rates are so low and corporate spreads so tight that you have to be leery of prices going the other way. Structural headwinds may reduce real GDP below 2 percent in the US and other developed nations. With globalization, technological and demographic changes
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Chad Stone at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said the fiscal cliff conjures up Wile E. Coyote, but said “fiscal slope” is more acurate as the effects would accumulate gradually during 2013. Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research said those who argue that it’s a fiscal slope are ignoring the psychological impact on business and understates the
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