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: Thomas Roth at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA said the 3-yr auction won’t be a big deal because of plenty of buyers, and everyone thinks the expiration of the TAG program will cause a wave of inflows. Craig Collins at Bank of Montreal said 3-yr notes are at expensive, historically rich levels.
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hawaii tourism revenue is at a record, spurring real estate investments. Oracle founder Larry Ellison this year bought 98 percent of the island of Lanai. Goldman Sachs lent $1.85 billion to a once-distressed hotel portfolio with five Hawaiian properties. Companies from Walt Disney Co. to Starwood Hotels are expanding resorts. Hospitality Advisors says demand has
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The bond market expects inflation to remain contained for the next decade. David Brownlee at Sentinel Asset Mgmt said inflation is on the backburner until you see a strong economy, so rates will be relatively low. Gregory Whiteley at DoubleLine Capital said the money created over the past few years
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Stephen King at HSBC said inflation is not the central banks’ highest priority, and as long as people believe they are committed over the longer term to price stability, there is leeway to play for other objectives. HSBC said the MSCI All Country World Index will return 9 percent in 2013 on aggressive
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Carson Block at Muddy Waters said he stopped betting against Chinese companies this year after government agents hindered his analysts and harassed workers at his storage company in Shanghai. Block says China is protecting frauds by making it difficult to research short sale candidates, and has used intelligence and police agencies to deter
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeffrey Currie at Goldman Sachs said investors should be overweight in commodities because prices will gain 7 percent in 12 months on improving global economic growth, while rising consumption may limit immediate supplies and raise near-term prices above longer-dated contracts. Goldman said gold’s longest winning streak in at least nine decades
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Bloomberg and Strategas Research Partners report the average S&P 500 company cut interest expenses to 2.39 percent of sales in the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the lowest since at least 2002. With borrowing expenses at record lows, companies are finding it harder to squeeze costs, causing profit margins to
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
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