2 items worth reading – Loan Growth at Public Expense; Jack Sustman on the Vortex as Market Descriptor – Chris Whalen – The Institutional Risk Analyst
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The New Nostradamus – Posted by: Michael Lerner, Ethan Hill – Can a fringe branch of mathematics forecast the future? A special adviser to the CIA, Fortune 500 companies, and the U.S. Department of Defense certainly thinks so. – Good.is Magazine
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We’re In The Final Month Before Inflation Hits – Joe Weisenthal – Business Insider The Money Game
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The Great Disconnect Between Stocks and Jobs – Robert Reich’s Blog – … The (stock) market is up because corporate earnings are up. Corporate earnings are up because companies are cutting costs. And the biggest single cost they’re cutting is their payrolls. So they let people go and, presto, their balance sheets look better and their stock prices rise. … Where is this heading? No place good. Without a major shift in policy — both at the Fed and in the White House — the economics point to a big stock-market correction and a double dip.
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Chart of the Day – … Today’s chart illustrates how earnings declined over 92% from its Q3 2007 peak to its Q3 2009 trough, which makes it easily the largest decline on record (the data goes back to 1936). On the positive side, S&P 500 earnings bottomed and are moving up sharply. …
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2010 Outlook for Banking – Posted by Larry Doyle – … The American Banker is the banker’s bible when looking for cutting edge analysis and perspectives. Today, this fabulous journal brings us over the wall and into the minds of top rated banking analysts on Wall Street. Let’s navigate, 2010 Outlook : Red Tape, Housing Could Impede Banks’ Recovery: – has summary – Sense on Cents
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READ THIS – Bill Gross tells you what to do with your money – PIMCO’s December 2009 Investment Outlook, “Anything but .01%” by Bill Gross, is now available at PIMCO
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Harvard Poker Pro Says Texas Hold ‘Em Can Teach Traders to Fold – By Mason Levinson – Brandon Adams, who teaches behavioral finance at Harvard University’s Department of Economics, says some of the best candidates for Wall Street trading jobs are the professional card players at FullTiltPoker.com and similar Web sites. – Bloomberg
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The inverted T-bill curve – an anomaly or a signal for another downturn? – The 3-month T-bill yield has collapsed to new lows, yielding half a basis point. – more … – Sober Look Blog
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Negative T-bill yields – Simon Avery – … “This time around it appears there is simply too much money that wants to sit tight and look respectable come year-end. Which means that we shouldn’t read too much from the negative T-bill yield and this will eventually rebound back to at least 0 per cent, once the year-end regulatory dance comes to an end.” … – Globe and Mail Blogs
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The Message of the 2yr Treasury, Deflation, and Japan – Larry Doyle – … Don’t think for a second that Bernanke and Geithner aren’t primarily concerned with the prospects of a deflationary cycle here in the United States and are trying to create inflation while risking the value of our greenback in the process. Idle factories? Limited demand to borrow? Yes, Japan has plenty of that – as does America. This is the real message of the 2yr Treasury. … – Sense on Cents
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Thoughts from the Frontline Weekly Newsletter – Where the Wild Things Are – by John Mauldin – John’s thoughts on a possible dollar rally.