Category Archives: Business News and Analysis

all business news

March Factory Order Rebound Doesn’t Change Dismal Trend

by Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner New factory orders (actual, adjusted for inflation and not seasonally adjusted), which is a broader measure than durable goods orders because it includes non-durables, dropped 3.3% on a year to year basis in March. … Continue reading

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Why Is Kenneth Rogoff Puzzled by Low Interest Rates?

by Dirk Ehnts, Econoblog101 In an article published at Project Syndicate, Harvard professor Kenneth Rogoff writes about the long mystery of low interest rates. Here is the main issue: A lot has changed since 2005. We had the financial crisis, … Continue reading

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Government Debt and Deficits Are Not the Problem. Private Debt Is.

by Michael Hudson, New Economic Perspectives Remarks by Prof. Michael Hudson at The Atlantic’s Economy Summit, Washington DC, Wednesday, March 13, 2013. There are two quite different perspectives in the set of speeches at this conference. Many on our morning … Continue reading

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Stratfor: Disturbing Precedent in the Cyprus Bailout

By George Friedman, Founder and Chairman, Stratfor The European economic crisis has taken different forms in different places, and Cyprus is the latest country to face the prospect of financial ruin. Overextended banks in Cyprus are teetering on the brink … Continue reading

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“Pervasive” Fraud by our “Most Reputable” Banks

by William K. Black, New Economic Perspectives A recent study confirmed that control fraud was endemic among our most elite financial institutions.  Asset Quality Misrepresentation by Financial Intermediaries: Evidence from RMBS Market. Tomasz Piskorski, Amit Seru & James Witkin (February … Continue reading

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Designing A Federal Bank

by Harold James, Voxeu Do economists and policymakers know how to design a federal bank for Europe? Is there a template? This column explores the history of the US Federal Reserve, gleaning lessons for the future of the European banking … Continue reading

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Are We Protected From Another Collapse?

Banks, Securitization & Incentives by Elliott Morss, Morss Global Finance Introduction The bank crisis was serious – $52 trillion in capital losses leading to the largest global recession since 1929. We should work hard to insure it does not happen … Continue reading

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Dude, Where’s My Cheap Gas?

by James D. Hamilton, Econbrowser.com This article was originally published at Econbrowser. Those who have been told that oil production is booming may be wondering why the prices of oil and gasoline are climbing again.

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Is Inflation really a Problem?

by EconMatters, EconMatters.com Consumers only focus on Inflation, they ignore Deflation areas It seems that to exclusively focus on one side of the equation can be human nature at times, and with regard to inflation concerns humans never see the … Continue reading

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ISM Purchasing Managers New Orders Index In Troubling Trends

ISM Purchasing Managers New Orders Index In Troubling Trends in Both Manufacturing and Services by Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner The ISM Purchasing Managers Index data on new orders for the manufacturing and non manufacturing sectors of the economy shows … Continue reading

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Did Securitization Lead to Riskier Corporate Lending?

by Joao Santos, Federal Reserve Bank of New York There’s ample evidence that securitization led mortgage lenders to take more risk, thereby contributing to a large increase in mortgage delinquencies during the financial crisis. In this post, I discuss evidence … Continue reading

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Pending Home Sales Didn’t Really Miss

by Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner The news media reported yesterday that the NAR’s Pending Home Sales Index for December was a huge miss, falling far short of economists’ consensus expectations. This was based on the seasonally adjusted data, which … Continue reading

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Recognizing the Need for Economic Adjustment

by Michael Pettis, China Financial Markets In China, I have argued many times, high growth is no longer compatible with a strengthening balance sheet. If China is growing at a rate that approaches or exceeds five or six percent, it … Continue reading

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Can Banks Really Just Create Money?

Special Analysis Article from Bullion Vault by Paul Tustain, Bullion Vault It’s the banks, not their customers, who actually wind up owing each other money… Observers of Fractional Reserve Banking have noticed that your deposit into a bank can cause … Continue reading

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Business Cycle Forecasting: The First-Rate Results of Robert F. Dieli

by Jeff Miller This article is probably the most exhaustive and challenging piece I have written.  It was worth the effort because understanding the business cycle is crucial to making great investment decisions.  To get the full benefit, I urge … Continue reading

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Some Talk: The Biased Base of Basel

by Takeo Hoshi, Voxeu.org Implementation of Basel III in the US Will Bring Back the Regulatory Arbitrage Problems under Basel I Rejigging financial regulation is in vogue. But, in the world of international finance, how well do different regulatory systems … Continue reading

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Non Farm Payrolls Does Not Change the Economic Picture

Non Farm Payrolls Give Fed No Reason To End QE, In Spite of Its Attempt To Scare Speculators Lee Adler, Wall Street Examiner The BLS today reported a seasonally adjusted (SA) gain of 155,000 in December nonfarm payrolls. While the … Continue reading

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Central Banks Can Phase in Nominal GDP Targets without Losing the Inflation Anchor

by Jeffrey Frankel, Jeff Frankel’s Weblog The time is right for the world’s major central banks to reconsider the framework they use in conducting monetary policy. The US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are grappling with sustained economic … Continue reading

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Troubled Times Ahead for Community Banks

A Wonderful Life for Community Banks? by Bob Beard and Carl W. Raggio III, as posted by John Slater at Capital Matters During the year-end holidays we reach out for the comfort of the familiar.  One of the best ways … Continue reading

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China and the US: What the Future Holds

by Elliott Morss, Morss Global Finance Introduction Matthew Nimetz, an eminent scholar, lawyer, venture capital executive, and former senior US/UN diplomat, recently presented a thought-provoking paper at a joint meeting the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and the China … Continue reading

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