Thursday, February 28, 2013

Spain's banking system bleeding contained for now

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Spain's banking system continues to struggle, with Bankia reporting more losses and tapping the government's bailout vehicle. Th...
Wednesday, February 27, 2013

French consumer recession is likely driven by job losses

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Recent retail numbers from France are showing an ongoing consumer recession in spite of signs of improvement in confidence elsewhere in th...
Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Draining excess reserves and the exit strategy

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Questions continue to surround the Fed’s eventual exit from years of quantitative easing. The ultimate fate of what is to become of the 3....
Monday, February 25, 2013

Europe back in focus as Italy braces for a deadlocked parliament

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All of a sudden Europe matters. As discussed last week ( see post ), Italy's election was creating risks of a "weak and fragmente...

Leveraged loan market on fire

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Sub-investment-grade loans continue to perform well, driven by demand for floating rate product. As an example, the chart below compares t...
Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Fed to face challenges as it ultimately exits the unprecedented monetary expansion

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The recently released minutes of the last FOMC meeting made some economists and market participants begin contemplating the Fed's exit...

Is the US facing a housing shortage?

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Homes available for sale as well as the housing supplies measured in months are now at pre-recession levels, while household formation con...
Thursday, February 21, 2013

Italy's recession and upcoming elections threaten reforms

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The Guardian had a good summary yesterday on the situation in Italy, where the recession is showing no signs of abating. The winner of the...