Economy

"If a country isn’t growing, it’s debt is growing as a result. So, any interest beyond, let's say 2.5%, is a problem. And with Italy's growth shrinking, as a result of the austerity measures they're putting in place, we're beyond it.…

Another awesome piece of work from our friends over at The Chart Store. The chart below is a times series of the numbers of hours of work — based on the average hourly wage — needed to buy a barrel of crude oil. Given the current wage of…

The economic data in the US has been somewhat better of late but the ECRI’s Lakshman Achuthan argues that this is meaningless; you can’t repeal the business cycle. His view is that the indicators pointing to an end of cycle slowing into…

That’s what Philipp Rösler, the leader of the junior partner in Germany’s coalition government, is saying. Barry Eichengreen says that this kind of talk is counterproductive.

Now, this could just be bluster and rhetoric. But then again it may be something else. I think it bears watching. Just following up on the post by Global Macro Monitor this morning, I note from French daily L’Express the following passage.

Let’s talk about credible government bond backstops for a bit.

A breakdown of Friday's numbers with net loss and gain by key industry.

What do you think: is the Fed part of the problem or part of the solution?

Here is something brewing off radar. We’re wondering if this is a factor as to why crude is bid and gold is coming back?

Last week we witnessed a flight to quality within the euro zone government bond market. The yield on 10-year German government bonds dropped a record 35 points last week. They now yield 1.82 percent. Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year Italian…