Chicken Little and the Bond Market

George Yacik - INO.com Contributor - Fed & Interest Rates


If you listen to some market observers, the record low yields in the Treasury bond market are warning us that the American economy is on the verge of falling into the same deflationary abyss of the euro zone and Japan. Like the Chicken Little story, if bond yields are falling, the sky must be falling, too.

With the yield on the 30-year T-bond hitting its lowest level ever last week, even lower than during the global financial crisis, they’re worried that if the Federal Reserve raises interest rates soon, we’ll shortly be back to the bad old days of 2008 and, even worse, 1929.

No less a figure than Paul Krugman, the New York Times’ economics commentator, wrote that the Swiss Central Bank’s move last week to decouple the franc from the free-falling euro is a portent of what could happen to us if we let our deflationary guard down. Continue reading "Chicken Little and the Bond Market"

In Europe it's getting personal...Weekend Update Video

Hello fellow traders everywhere. Adam Hewison here co-founder of MarketClub with your weekend update for the trading week ending on 10/21/11. This week we have two parts to our weekend update. Watch them both here.

Equities mixed as metals fade …

In Europe it's getting personal.

A poll that we conducted on Friday shows that 75% of all traders are closely watching  events in Europe. Here's the reason why.

Here we have Chancellor Merkel of Germany, telling Berlusconi the Prime Minister of Italy, who just happens to be a billionaire, a proud Italian male what to do. For sure there is no love lost between these two, but I'm not sure talking that way to an Italian billionaire, is going to result, in any kind of positive vote. That's why, I have always thought that the European union between different sovereignties, with different values and social structures, was an accident just waiting to happen.

Daily rumors from Europe continue to weigh heavily on the markets around the world. Everyone's euphoric one moment, thinking that a possible agreement is at hand only to find out hours later that everything is in complete disarray. It's just a question of how many lifeboats are available,  when the boat sinks? Continue reading "In Europe it's getting personal...Weekend Update Video"