The S&P 500 is above 1500. CBOE S&P 500 Volatility (VIX) is sitting near 15-year lows. And 88% of iShares S&P 100 (OEF) component stocks are above respective 200-day moving averages. Normally, you might hear more discussion about complacency and/or an imminent sell-off. Instead, you’re hearing more about the “Great Rotation” out of bonds and into [...] [...more]
In the steamy September days (9/13-9-14) of central bank euphoria, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke announced that the Fed would immediately begin purchasing $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities each month. What’s more, the chairman did not include an end date for the quantitative easing program known as “QE3.” Bernanke’s summertime bazooka sent S&P 500 stocks skyward, [...] [...more]
Governments around the globe are struggling to get their spending in check. Annual deficits in the developed world are, in many cases, devastatingly obscene. And yet, if an industrialized country (e.g., Germany, Japan, United States, Great Britain, etc.) has enough cache with global borrowers, that nation may presently borrow-n-spend with impunity. Treasuries, gilts, JGBs, German “bunds” — the rich sovereigns have been racking up enormous “credit [...] [...more]
