money

Well, even though the data in the real economy is looking pretty bad. There is good news. The Ted Spread is at a 9-month low. That should be very supportive of capital markets over the near term."Lending confidence at banks rose to the…

Oil hit $126 a barrel today on production fears. Refiners and firms that need oil to make money seem to be hoarding it as the price rises inexorably higher. According to Bloomberg, "U.S. crude supplies rose 5.65 million barrels to 325.6…

That's the title of a UK Telegraph article on a report showing that UK repossession orders have increased to levels not seen since the housing bust of the early 1990s. According to this morning's BBC 5 Live program, "Wake Up To Money," the…

Despite stock markets being lower the last few days, there are some bright spots in he macro picture. On Feb 24th, I mentioned that risk in the markets was high as suggested by the Ted spread. (The TED spread measures the gap between the…

Note: This post is from April 2008 but is updated from time to time to reflect charts of the current market conditions The TED spread is a common measure of fear and risk in the capital markets. Judging from where the TED spread is now…

As the Fed Funds rate gets close to zero, pundits have been worrying about a pending liquidity trap. While I think these worries are well placed because the Fed is running out of bullets, I am more concerned about inflation right now.…

Steve Hanke, a libertarian economist who writes for Forbes, argues that the Fed is panicked about the economy in a piece that came out today. He believes they have lowered the Fed Funds interest rate to where inflation is now a problem.…

A few days ago Comstock Partners released a Special Report outlining how we got into the economic malaise that is hitting us right now. Their report is spot on in terms of the genesis of our problems being easy money. They also accurately…

Recently, on Mar. 18th, the Federal Reserve lowered the Fed Funds rate to 2.25%. In the accompanying statement, the Fed said the following: "Recent information indicates that the outlook for economic activity has weakened further. Growth…