It had been hoped that the Geitner plan would support a further rally in the stock market. In fact, he only spoke for half an hour. During that period the S & P 500 fell by 3.4 per cent. The market – and particularly the traders – was disappointed by his lack of detail. Some people expressed disappointment that he did not commit the new administration to drawing a line under the crisis. The new administration had allowed expectation of a New Deal to grow, and this was not a new deal…
February 13th, 2009 | William Rees-Mogg | 4 comments | ContinuedAll Posts Tagged With: "US Treasury"
Look out! It’s The Bond Vigilantes!
This is the media name for the bond traders who scuppered Bill Clinton’s big spending plans during his first term. Back then, the market was capable of imposing some fiscal discipline on the U.S. government by forcing it to pay higher rates of interest for the debt it sold to finance its spending plans.
February 12th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
Signs of Life
Here’s a thought: if Washington can set salary caps on Wall Street because taxpayer money is involved, why can’t the rest of America set salary caps on American legislators? Those clowns get government money every single day. They even spend money they don’t have by robbing from generations of unborn Americans. And they’ve run regular structural budget deficits for decades!…
February 5th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
A Nation of Patsies…in a World of Hurt
In the beginning, the U.S. government was specifically limited in what it could do. Now, very little remains that it can’t do. But in all matters – big or small…torturing people or taking their money – government leaders must pretend to be acting in the national interest. It’s a low-down, dirty business that usually attracts people of the same sort. People like George W. Bush and Joseph Biden…people with no sense or no principles – or neither. People who don’t know a lie when they hear it or…don’t mind telling one. That’s why we’re sorry to seem Obama in the trade; he seems like such a nice fellow…
January 20th, 2009 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
Exodus In Waiting
The deadline for many investors to get their money back from hedge funds by the end of the year passed this weekend. Now we’ll see what happens. Will stocks stop falling now that funds have finished selling to meet redemptions? Keep in mind that hedge fund assets doubled over the last three years to around US$1.7 trillion today.
November 17th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | Continued
Australia’s Response to the U.S. Bailout Plan
Normally, bank robberies work the other way. An armed and masked gang walks into the bank, fires a few shotgun blasts, tells everyone to get on the floor, and asks the clerks to fill up canvas bags with the fabulous moolah. It’s simple. That is not the way it works in modern central banking, though. Today, it’s as if Hank Paulson is pointing his “big bazooka” bailout plan at Wall Street and demanding it opens up its wallet so he can fill it with other people’s money.
September 26th, 2008 | Dan Denning | 7 comments | Continued
Wall Street Waits for the Next Domino to Fall
Soon, other Wall Street institutions are going to begin announcing their latest results. The tide has gone out; we’re going to see who’s been swimming naked, says Buffett. One thing we’re going to see is huge leveraged loan portfolios written down.
March 19th, 2008 | Bill Bonner | 3 comments | Continued
Euro Hits Fresh All-Time Highs Versus the Dollar
The Euro hit fresh all-time highs versus the Dollar already this month – and we’re only one trading day in. So might US investors want to switch out of gold bullion ahead of Easter this year and move into the single currency instead? After all, the Euro still pays 4.0% interest per year – a feat that dumb gold could never promise or achieve – and with Eurozone inflation holding at a record 3.2% year-on-year in February, the European Central Bank (ECB) is clearly in no mood to start slashing rates now.
March 4th, 2008 | Adrian Ash | 0 comments | Continued
