Risk of earnings recession rises, as S&P 500 profits to fall for first time in 3 years

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via MarketWatch Trade tensions, weather and slowing growth are pulling down earnings expectations Investors should start bracing themselves for an earnings recession, with first-quarter numbers for the S&P 500 expected to suffer the first decline in nearly three years, as macroeconomic headwinds continue to pull down analyst estimates. Although some say low investor expectations and … Read more

Candice Owens Congressional testimony video has become the most watched Congressional CSPAN testimony ever viewed!

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Dems are in serious trouble now!   YouTube Hides Video of Candace Owens’ Testimony in ‘Restricted Mode’ PragerU announced on Wednesday that YouTube has placed another of its videos in “restricted mode,” meaning that not everyone who visits the video-sharing website will be able to watch it. The restricted video is of Candace Owens’ powerful … Read more

IMF: Short-Term Growth Policies Risk New Financial Crisis

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via theguardian: entral banks are running the risk of a severe financial crisis through policies aimed at boosting short-term economic growth, the International Monetary Fund has warned. In its half-yearly global financial stability report, the IMF said the removal of the threat of higher interest rates had prompted a rapid recovery in financial markets after last … Read more

Check Out Citi’s Surprise Indices

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by confoundedinterest The Citi Economic Surprise Indices measure data surprises relative to market expectations. A positive reading means that data releases have been stronger than expected and a negative reading means that data releases have been worse than expected. Unfortunately for the USA, it has a negative economic surprise measure, followed closely by the Eurozone (also negative). … Read more

How Central Banks Are Propping Up Stock Prices

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via mises.org: Financial markets seem to have a great deal of confidence in the effectiveness of central bank monetary policy — in the sense that by keeping interest rates low, or bring interest rates down, the economies will keep expanding and asset prices, in particular, will keep rising. There is, however, good reason for savers and … Read more

Ominous Storm Clouds Warn of Worldwide Recession

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via MarketWatch: Growth momentum is slowing in almost all major economies ITHACA, N.Y. (Project Syndicate) — The drumbeat of warnings about a looming worldwide recession is growing ever louder. According to the latest Brookings-Financial Times TIGER indexes, which track the global economic recovery, growth momentum is declining in virtually all of the world’s major economies. And what this … Read more

World Bank’s Goal of Ending Extreme Poverty by 2030 Is in Jeopardy

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via MarketWatch: The World Bank’s primary goal of ending “extreme” poverty by 2030 is in jeopardy, said new World Bank president David Malpass on Thursday. At his first news conference since taking office this week, Malpass said poverty is getting worse in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa where per-capita-income is now projected to stay below 1% … Read more

IPO’s: Rewarding Reckless Risk Pricing, Again

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via trueeconomics: Markets are supposed to be efficient. At least, on the timeline that allows to price in probabilistically plausible valuations of the firms. Markets failed to be efficient at the time of the dot.com bubble. And, it appears, they are back at the same game: As the chart above shows, share of IPOs issued at … Read more

Global Supply of Negative Yield Bonds Hits $10 Trillion

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by confoundedinterest17 To listen to some talking heads, everything is beautiful. But according to the bond market, everything is not beautiful. In fact, there is concern about global economic growth and financial fragility. There is now $10 trillion in negative yielding bonds in the global economy. And in Europe, there are 16 nations with negatiive 2-year sovereign … Read more

Shadow Banking Is Now a $52 Trillion Industry

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via CNBC:   Nonbank lenders, often called “shadow banks,” now have $52 trillion in assets, a 75% increase since the financial crisis ended. The industry was at the center of the financial crisis when the subprime mortgage market collapsed. Industry officials say shadow banks still face considerable regulation and can help provide buffers in times … Read more

America Has a Monopoly Problem

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By John Mauldin Without realizing it, we’ve become a nation of monopolies. A large and growing part of our economy is “owned” by a handful of companies that face little competition. They have no incentive to deliver better products or to get more efficient. They simply rake in cash from people who have no choice … Read more