Markets

Often when global investors think about high yielding Latam debt, Brazil is the first country to come to mind.  And for good reason.  Brazil’s local currency debt offers among the highest yields in the world.  On a 2-year…

Highlights The US dollar is little is generally firmer.  However, the main driver is not really the greenback but heightened risk aversion and fears of a renewed economic downturn given the austerity in Europe and weakness in the…

The decision to leave rates on hold was an easy one for the Fed to make.  The Fed still anticipates this will be the case for an extended period.  The statement seemed to recognize some of the less favorable data since it met…

The 32.7% decline in new homes sales to a new cyclical low has actually sparked a bout of dollar and yen buying on risk aversion. The revisions to the March and April time series also point to a much weaker picture than we had.  …

Sales of new homes plunged a record 33% in May to a record-low after the expiration of the federal tax credit subsidy for home buyers expired. Sales were a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 300,000, the lowest since record-keeping…

Gray Newman of Morgan Stanley is the third analyst this week who has been making Mexico-bullish noises due to the Chinese peg move.  In his recent research piece called "Latin America: The Renminbi Impact" he says we have…

Australian PM Rudd is coming under stronger domestic pressure as the opposition to the resource tax gains momentum.  There have been press reports of a leadership challenge and a local report claims that a key bloc in the Rudd's Labor…

Highlights The US dollar is little changed against most of the major foreign currencies, but sterling continues to respond favorably to yesterday’s budget.  News that for the first time since Aug 08 a BOE member (Sentence) called…

By John Lounsbury What is the best proxy for demand in the housing market?  How about lumber.  Here is one ugly chart, courtesy of finviz.com (with trend lines added by the author): For large graphic without added trend…

While California has been the poster boy for state budgetary woes, Illinois has moved into the top spot as the US state most likely to default on its debt. To avoid default more cuts are going to be necessary. See recent posts by me and…