Fannie/Freddie Takeover & Bailout
Is it going to help solve our housing crisis? Some analysts think that Fan/Fred's borrowing costs will not drop, much of which will be passed on to new mortgage borrowers. Let's see if that looks …
Recession Buy Indicator Says: It’s a Recession So Buy Stocks
That’s contrarian, of course. Barry Ritholtz over at The Big Picture has a good explanation. Here’s the nutshell: the "Recession Buy Indicator" looks at the four indicators in the Index of Coincident Indicators, and signals …
China’s Stock Market: Momentum Players Eventually Lost
In May 2007, I titled a post, "Is China’s Stock Market Overvalued?" I closed with these words: "… don’t get carried away with the momentum play. It may work early in the cycle, but momentum …
Bear Stearns Bailout: It’s Not Who You Think
The quick read from the press is that the purchase of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase was a "bailout." Jim Hamilton over at EconBrowser doesn’t buy that story. He says, "$2 a share is no …
Long-term Trends in the Global Capital Markets
The McKinsey Quarterly has an interesting article about the trends that will continue after the current financial market turbulence calms down. (free, but registration required) Here are their key trends: the continued growth and deepening …
Risk Spreads on Interest Rates: Time to Buy Risk?
Jim Picerno over at Capital Spectator has interesting charts about how risk is priced. Here’s one: Yes, risky assets now have a much wider spread over treasuries than they did last year. But that was …
Who Benefits from the Subprime Mess?
Roger Ehrenberg ( a fellow contributor to Seeking Alpha) has an insightful post on this topic: who stands to gain from general economic and capital markets uncertainty? I’ll tell you – those who have balance …
Global Stock Markets: Some Perspective
Let’s get some perspective on the stock markets around the world: thanks to Dae Beck of the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis for passing these to me.
When Banks and Investment Houses Dump Bad Assets
Barry Ritholtz over at The Big Picture has a good insight into the new guy at Bear Stearns. Last summer he anticipated a change in senior management and said this: “Just wait until Jimmy Cayne …
Investment Returns in 2007
One thing I like about the Capital Spectator is Jim’s regular presentation of investment returns by asset class. Here’s what happened in 2007: When I reproduce these, I assume that all Businomics blog readers are …
Index Mutual Funds: An Interview with Paul Merriman
Paul Merriman is a guru of investing with index funds. I interviewed him for the Businomics Audio Magazine. You can listen to his insights here. Also available on the interviews page: Marsha Egan on email …
Investments for a Global Recession
I’m not forecasting a recession, but . . . My previous blog post about investments for a recession has proved to be very popular. But I recently looked at Capital Spectator’s chart showing returns by …