US economy surges with consumer confidence and house sales up February 26, 2013 Consumer confidence is up to 69.6 in February from 58.4 in January, with expectations of only 61.0. That's the highest since November. Meanwhile house price sales have soared to 437,000 from 378,000 on a month on month basis (381,000 expected).
Bernanke addresses Senate Banking Committee February 26, 2013 Bernanke is now about to give testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, you can watch live on C-SPAN3. Markets will be listening for hawkish or dovish tones, the assumption being that QE infinitum is likely to continue. Line I am watching on the VIX = 17.18 (same thing, breakout/breakdown line) — Keith McCullough(@KeithMcCullough) February 26, [...]
US house prices continue to rise February 26, 2013 The Federal Housing Finance Agency has announced that in November house prices increased by 0.6 per cent (release). This was in line with expectations and matches the rise of the previous month. US house prices now stand up 7.33 per cent on a year on year basis. (Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency) US house prices rose [...]
JPMorgan may axe 19,000 jobs by 2015 February 26, 2013 Following reports earlier than JPMorgan plans to cut 4,000 jobs by the end of the year, Bloomberg now reports that more job losses may be planned: FLASH: JPMorgan says mortgage unit, community bank may lose 19,000 jobs by end of next year — Bloomberg News (@BloombergNews) February 26, 2013 That number would represent over 7% [...]
Gold prices edge up as crisis fears heighten February 26, 2013 ZeroHedge has these numbers for a quick gold comparison: Today’s AM fix was USD 1,597.25, EUR 1,219.65 and GBP 1,052.07 per ounce.Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,592.50, EUR 1,201.89 and GBP 1,051.85 per ounce. (ZeroHedge) Gold is typically a commodity that you get into when you expect volatility. Italy's electoral deadlock has renewed fears about [...]
Hungary enough to eat a horse February 26, 2013 A watchdog has now found horse masquerading as beef in Hungary, as near daily revelations start to give a picture of the scale of this continent-wide mislabelling scandal. Data from Kantar today showed that sales of frozen burgers in the UK are down 43 per cent in the four weeks to February 17, and frozen [...]
Pound plummets as Tucker talks experimental policy February 26, 2013 Monetary Policy Committee member Paul Tucker has been talking foreign exchange during the Treasury Select Committee, remarking that it would be foolish to engage in a currency war. Tucker dismissed activism as foolish, saying that we must avoid slipping back into protectionism, must avoid balkanisation in global finance and beggar-thy-neighbour policies generally. However Tucker has [...]
UK retail growth crawls ahead February 26, 2013 The Confederation of British Industry has released its quarterly Distributive Trades Survey (release). Expectations of 16 per cent growth were dashed as figures showed growth of a mere 8 per cent, the lowest since September and down from 17 in the last quarter. This marks the third consecutive period in which retail growth has slowed. While [...]
We are all flexible inflation targeters now February 26, 2013 Since Mark Carney has made the debate about flexible inflation popular, the members of the Monetary Policy Committee at the Treasury Select Committee seem keen to impress that they are fans of some degree of flexibility. Earlier Ian McCafferty noted that the Bank has effectively had a flexible regime since birth. His colleague Paul Tucker [...]
The Eurozone “isn’t something that could go wrong, it has gone wrong” February 26, 2013 Speaking at the House of Commons Treasury Committee, Monetary Policy Committee member Professor David Miles remarked that the Eurozone "isn't something that could go wrong, it has gone wrong". He reminded the committee that many European economies appear to be going backwards, with growth rates close to zero. Ian McCafferty spoke on the Bank of [...]