Wolf Richter: Welcome to 2016! With Just a Touch of Mayhem for Stocks
Stocks took a beating around the globe on the first day back in 2016. Hopes of a better year start out inauspiciously.
Read more...Category Archives: Investment outlook
Wolf Richter: “Distress” in US Corporate Debt Spikes to 2009 Level
Experts expected bankruptcies of highly levered borrowers in 2013-2014, but cheap refis under ZIRP bailed them out. We are again at peak leverage, but this time, there’s no prospect of lower rates to provide a rescue.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Debt Fueled Stock Buybacks Now Eating into Earnings
Companies with investment-grade credit ratings – the cream-of-the-crop “high-grade” corporate borrowers – have gorged on borrowed money. Interest on that mountain of debt, which grew another 4% in the second quarter, is now eating their earnings like never before.
Read more...Harvard Business Review Ranks Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as Most Predatory CEO
A new Harvard Business Review ranking shows Amazon’s Jeff Bezos as being the top predator among CEOs.
Read more...Frances Coppola: The Great Yield Divergence
Puzzling over the Great Divergence of real and nominal yields. Ever since the Great Depression, nominal yields have been persistently above real yields Yet in the previous 200 years, despite periods of fiat currency and high inflation, real and nominal yields didn’t diverge. Why do they now?
Read more...Wolf Richter: This is When Bonds Go Kaboom!
It’s getting tougher out there for our QE and ZIRP-coddled corporate junk-bond heroes.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Bankers Threaten Fed with Layoffs if it Doesn’t Raise Rates
Yes, banks really do want the Fed to raise interest rates.
Read more...Low Unemployment with Falling Capacity Utilization… Not a Good Sign for Fed Liftoff
Why the Fed should delay its long-anticipated “liftoff”.
Read more...Nomi Prins: Mexico, Federal Reserve Policy and Danger Ahead for Emerging Markets
Mexico’s problems could again ripple through Latin America where eroding confidence, volatility, and US dollar strength are already hurting economies and markets.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Corporate Revenue Recession Spreads past Dollar, Energy
Now that 495 of the S&P 500 companies have reported second quarter earnings, something has become abundantly clear: 2015 is going to be a nasty year for corporate revenues.
Read more...Real Household Net Worth: Look Out Below?
Even with the wild end-of-day rally yesterday, Steve Roth describes how absent a strong continuation of the snapback, real household net worth is likely to show a year-to-year fall by the end of September. And that’s not a good sign at all.
Read more...Wolf Richter: Americans’ Economic Outlook Plunges
The latest poll of Americans’ economic outlook shows most expect things to get worse…and the survey was before the market rout started last Friday.
Read more...Michael Hudson: Smoke and Mirrors of Corporate Buybacks Behind the Market Crash
Hudson clearly differentiates what is happening in the Chinese versus the US markets, with emphasis on the role of corporate buybacks here.
Read more...Wolf Richter: It Starts – Broad Retaliation Against China in Currency War
Struggling economies that compete with China are going to protect their exports against Chinese encroachment via currency depreciation.
Read more...Michael Pettis: Do Markets Determine the Value of the RMB?
A thorough discussion of the background and implications of the so-far modest devaluation of the RMB.
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