Fighting the Financial Crisis
10/9/2008 By Fisher Investments Editorial Staff
Central banks and governments around the world have taken up the call to arms.
Too Hot, Too Cold, or Just About Right?
2/19/2008 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Folks generally associate steep yield curves with inflation—should they?
Surveying Lending
2/6/2008 By MarketMinder editorial staff
The recent Loan Officer Survey paints a dour picture on lending, but a closer look reveals far different results.
But Wait, There’s More
12/12/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
America’s and Europe’s central banks have coordinated in an innovative way to make capital available to troubled banks, which highlights the variety of liquidity sources available today for banks.
Super Ben, Part Deux
12/3/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
As the FOMC prepares to meet, the media predicts they’ll drop rates again to help “save” the economy from a credit crunch. We continue to view credit crisis fears as overblown and largely psychological.
The Real Credit Story
10/22/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Long-term rates have been moving lower lately, a remarkable story almost entirely ignored by the media.
Chinese Inflation
9/24/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
China’s inflation rate is soaring. While that’s unlikely to derail China’s economy in the near term or infect the global economy with higher prices, the problem underscores a still fragile and developing nation fraught with peril for investors.
Ben to the Fake Rescue!
9/19/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Yesterday’s Fed action won’t have much impact, which is good news, since our healthy economy requires no rescuing.
Saving the Day (And Not Much Else)
9/18/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Today’s semi-surprise rate cut of 0.5% by the Federal Reserve featured some bewildering messages, but on balance the move will probably do little to bolster or hinder the economy other than provide a short-term psychological boost.
Small Cuts Don’t Much Matter
9/14/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Expectations for a Fed interest rate cut to “save” the economy next week are overblown. Cut or no cut, it makes little economic difference—today’s fervor over Fed meetings is more about psychology than reality.
Are We There Yet?
8/20/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
What do corrections and family vacations have in common? Way too much.
The Fed’s Talisman
8/17/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Today’s rate cut from the Fed is more symbolic than it is potent…but it may prove to be just the antidote for today’s skittish investor sentiment.
Blood in the Alleys
8/9/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
The freak-outs continue. Dread that credit blood is flowing in the streets of the global economy received another seeming affirmation today.
Debt Disambiguation
7/26/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
News of a faltering credit environment persists, but fundamentals still appear conducive to a robust cash-based M&A market. This week’s equity sell-off is likely normal turbulence and not a harbinger of a credit crunch, or a new bear market.
Befuddled Bond Bears
6/27/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Today’s bond market is not what the bears would have you believe.
Runaway Rates?
6/15/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
The 10-year US Treasury has hit a five-year high.
Yield Mandala
6/11/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
For millennia, yogis, sages, Buddhas, and general seekers of wisdom have contemplated the labyrinthine passages of life’s mysteries through meditation with mandalas.
When You Get to the Fork in the Road…
5/9/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Yogi Berra made this quote famous: "When you get to the fork in the road, take it.
Critical Invasion
3/21/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
The scramble has begun! More art than science, more augury than empiricism, the pundits and pinheads are dissecting the Fed’s newest statement, fresh off the presses.
Fight the Fed
2/1/2007 By MarketMinder editorial staff
FOMC meetings are some of the most closely watched market events.
When Normal Feels Weird
12/21/2006 By MarketMinder editorial staff
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the United States is 6.
A Hawkish ECB
11/28/2006 By MarketMinder editorial staff
The European Central Bank (ECB) is a strange animal.
Oh Fools, Where Art Thou?
9/22/2006 By MarketMinder editorial staff
Here’s a familiar refrain among our investing peers (tell us if you’ve heard this one before): The number of outstanding high-risk loans (specifically in the mortgage arena) will eventually lead to an unprecedented number of defaults once we hit the next recession.