Author Archives: Rafi Farber

Jackson Hole: Ask Not How Many Rate Hikes, but Whether Target Rates Can Be Maintained

Posted: August 23, 2018 at 11:00 am

The annual Federal Reserve symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, starts on Friday, and Fed watchers are pulling out their binoculars. Fed Chair Jay Powell is set to speak in the ...
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Signs That the Fed May Be Losing Control of Monetary Policy

Posted: June 28, 2018 at 7:50 am

In a somewhat obscure, wonky report released yesterday, June 27, Reuters reports that the Federal Reserve may have to abandon its plans to shrink its balance sheet sooner than it ...
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Why This Ignored Indicator Is More Important Than Interest Rate Hikes

Posted: May 15, 2018 at 6:55 am

On the Bloomberg economic calendar, there’s a link in every week’s Thursday column for the Federal Reserve money supply. If this metric doesn’t seem important, it’s because it isn’t perceived ...
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Interest Rates Just Surged and Could Go Even Higher by Week’s End

Posted: April 24, 2018 at 6:55 am

Interest rates rocketed higher to start the week and the 10-year Treasury yield is now holding steady at just below 3%. The next jolt to the bond market though might ...
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Why a 1987-Style Crash May Come Early This Year

Posted: March 26, 2018 at 7:55 am

Traders are on edge for market open today. It’s for good reason. The S&P 500 is down 5.3% in the past two days, the past two days happened to be ...
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Stanford’s New Cancer Immunotherapy Starting Clinical Trials Could Spur a Big Pharma Bid

Posted: February 23, 2018 at 10:20 am

The concept behind cancer immunotherapy vaccines has been around since, believe it or not, 1891. This is when one Dr. William Coley began directly injecting tumors with bacteria, with 10% ...
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Why Stocks May Still Have a Long Way to Fall

Posted: February 8, 2018 at 11:10 am

The scary market action over the past week may not be over yet, nor for a while. In fact, the Dow’s 567-point bounce on the traditional “Turnaround Tuesday,” may turn ...
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Puerto Rico Moves to Privatize Its Electricity, but Competition Is Also Badly Needed

Posted: January 24, 2018 at 9:15 am

After nearly 40 years, Puerto Rico is finally privatizing its power utility company, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA). But it may not be enough. With 36% of residents ...
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For the Overall Economy, Tax Reform Is Much Ado About Nothing

Posted: December 18, 2017 at 8:50 am

For the number of headlines it generates and market jitters it causes, you’d think that the GOP tax reform plan would actually cut taxes on net. When chances of a ...
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Why a Flattening Yield Curve Means Recession Ahead

Posted: December 6, 2017 at 11:25 am

The yield curve is flattening fast. The spread between 10-year and two-year Treasury yields has shrunk to just over half a point, a level not seen in over a decade. ...
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3 Canadian Cannabis ADRs to Consider as the Sector Takes Off

Posted: November 20, 2017 at 10:56 am

Cannabis stocks are making a comeback, no thanks to US-based medical marijuana companies. The United States Marijuana Index, a collection of 17 firms, is still languishing at 55% below its ...
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3 Companies Spearheading the Antibiotics Space in 2018

Posted: November 10, 2017 at 11:15 am

This may turn out to be a pivotal year in antibiotic development, after decades of dramatic decline in the space. While 1980 to 1984 saw 18 new antibiotic approvals, the ...
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McAfee One Year Later, Now a Bitcoin Pioneer

Posted: October 11, 2017 at 11:20 am

Last year, cybersecurity legend John McAfee came out of hiding and made a play to reinvigorate his name and brand by heading MGT Capital Investments and rebranding it as a ...
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Why a California Ban on Internal Combustion Is Irrelevant

Posted: September 29, 2017 at 7:05 am

Following China’s proposed ban of the internal combustion engine by 2030, Governor Jerry Brown of California appears to have gotten a little jealous. He is now reportedly interested in eventually ...
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Winners and Losers If Trump Carries Out Threat to Cut Off Trade With China

Posted: September 4, 2017 at 6:28 am

President Donald Trump apparently did not get Teddy Roosevelt’s memo about speaking softly and carrying a big stick. Of all the threats that he has made since his tenure as ...
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