bonds

By Edward Harrison American politicians and citizens alike have no clear vision of the costs of a seemingly perpetual trillion-dollar annual deficit. Policy stimulus is focused on maintaining current consumption as opposed to making…

By Claus Vistesen Just before we turned the clock on 2010 I commented on the recent increase in US yields and noted the following simple issue; How investors perceive and interpret will determine great many things; is it a reflection…

I have just finished reviewing Byron Wien's Ten Surprises for 2010. Now, I present you Byron Wien's Ten Surprises for 2011. He is bullish again. Enjoy.   -Byron R. Wien, Vice Chairman, Blackstone Advisory Partners, today issued his…

Byron Wien had a stellar record in 2009, accurately predicting the effect of a rather robust second half recovery across a broad range of markets. However, Byron Wien's Ten Surprises for 2010 were well off the mark. Before we review I will…

The PMI Index for the December 2010 Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® released this morning increased to 57.0% from 56.6% in November. With 50 seen as the demarcation between expansion and contraction, the report shows a manufacturing…

We are now seeing almost all our sell signals go off and we recommend clients hedge portfolios and reduce market exposure. We have advised clients in the past to hedge their portfolios and reduce exposure when all our sell signals have gone…

by Win Thin We think it’s worth commenting on Portuguese press report today that China has pledged to buy up to EUR4-5 bln ($5.2-6.5 bln) of Portugal sovereign debt. Purchases would be either in the primary or secondary markets and would…

Here is a good segment on CNBC that takes another look at the muni issue which Chris Christie and Meredith Whitney raised on 60 Minutes on Sunday.  Benjamin Thompson of Samson Capital says he can't get the numbers Meredith Whitney used…

John Brynjolfsson, the CIO at the hedge fund Armored Wolf, is betting on convergence. In his view, the credit quality of the banks and people of Germany and France, will soon look like the credit quality in Spain and Portugal. I featured a…

The European Commission announced plans to sell bonds to fund the Irish bailout through the EFSF and EFSM. Each entity will issue EUR3-5 bln in 2011, and will mainly have maturities of 5, 7, and 10 years. More debt will be issued in 2012.…