Salient to Investors: James Gaul at Boston Advisors said Fed liquidity is driving financial asset inflation. Read the full article at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-03/buffett-like-icahn-reaping-tank-car-boom-from-shale-oil.html. Click here to receive free email alerts of articles as soon as they are posted.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Deepak Narula at Metacapital Mgmt said the Fed’s mission is to drive down the 30-year mortgage rate to let homeowners refinance. Narula uses mathematical models to calculate how long homeowners will make payments at their current interest rates before either refinancing or defaulting – models based on a homeowner’s
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The worst US drought since the 1930s is damaging wheat crops at a time when hedge funds are the most bearish on prices in 7 months. The median analyst expects global inventories to record a third annual drop, and Chicago futures to rise up to $9.50 a bushel in 2013. Tom
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jane Coffey at Royal London Asset Mgmt said we are not yet over fiscal cliff problems, but expects equities to produce good returns in 2013 and valuations aren’t stretched. Moody’s said the budget agreement won’t reduce the deficit enough to avoid a US downgrade, and the ratio of government debt to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Winners in the Fiscal Cliff deal: Rich people because raising the threshold for higher taxes from $250,000 to $450,000 because taxes are assessed on marginal income. Red State Democrats because they duck partisan controversy, which is right where they want to be. The unemployed people. Doctors because
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The MSCI All-Country World Index of equities increased 16.9 percent in 2012 including dividends, versus 0.1 percent for the S&P GSCI Total Return Index of 24 commodities, 0.5 percent for the US Dollar Index, and 5.73 percent for the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Index. James Dunigan at PNC Wealth
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The US nursing home industry overbills Medicare $1.5 billion a year for treatments patients don’t need or never receive. 30 percent of claims sampled from for-profit homes were deemed improper versus 12 percent from non-profits. At least 6 government and academic studies in the last 3 years
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: John-Paul Smith at Deutsche Bank said stocks in the major developing markets will again lag global equities in 2013 – China has focused on increasing the pool of buyers for Chinese assets, rather than boosting the role of free markets and privately run companies in the broader economy. Smith prefers cash to BRIC
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Wai Ho Leong at Barclays says the Monetary Authority of Singapore faces stubborn inflation and sluggish growth and may continue a gradual appreciation stance, even in an environment of below-trend growth. Kit Wei Zheng at Citigroup said the hurdle for easing remains high, and inflation will stay elevated through Q1 and
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Lumber prices through Dec. 28 have risen 47 percent in 2012, heading for the biggest annual gain since 1993. Paul F. Jannke at Forest Economic Advisors expects lumber futures to tumble as much as 25 percent from a 7-yr high due to output increases in Canada. Scotiabank says lumber
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