CIA World FactbookSocial unrest has been growing in Turkey, and with it about 10% of the value of the local markets has disappeared. News feeds from Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News have much coverage of…
ThinkstockMore and more, the American consumer is finding it easier to pay for purchases. From online ordering to smartphone apps that scan and pay at the point of purchase, times have changed. There even…
The bull market appears to still be alive and well for equities, but the risk of rising interest rates is plaguing bonds and investments tied to big dividends. What equity investors also need to…
thinkstockNational Bank of Greece S.A. (NYSE: NBG) had a lot of investors looking at Web-based quoting systems confused this week. The huge jump in share price was based on the equivalent of a 1:10…
ThinkstockWith the recent spike in long-term interest rates acting as a proxy for rising short rates, investors need to be focused on which banks are best positioned for a sustained rising rate environment. Clearly,…
ThinkstockThe financial crisis in Europe is supposed to be getting better, and with it sovereign and bank balance sheets are supposed to have started to heal, if ever so slightly. Interest rates on much of the debt…
ThinkstockThere is an old saying: “High prices will rapidly cure higher prices.” The same may be true about higher bond yields for Treasury notes and bonds. We have been tracking a rapid rise in…
ThinkstockSLM Corp. (NASDAQ: SLM) is about to migrate yet even further away from the Sallie Mae that you used to know when you were in college. Now that the student loan market is largely…
Is the Treasury market finally living up to its threat as the next big short? The money that was made in the period from 2007 to 2009 on the subprime mortgage short provided some…
ThinkstockTuesday may have seen a weak Chicago Fed report, but the Conference Board has released a more-current reading measuring consumer confidence for the month of May. This came in sharply higher at 76.2, versus…
Frank Golhen, via Wikimedia CommonsThe New York Stock Exchange is showing something that we would be more concerned about than optimistic. Margin debt at the NYSE grew for the ninth consecutive month and hit…
It has been hard to ignore the rise in bond yields on the longer end of the Treasury curve in recent days. The market keeps looking for clues from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke…
thinkstockInvestors have had time to know and prepare for a capital raise of sorts from the National Bank of Greece SA (NYSE: NBG). That is almost upon us and this is bringing a negative…
courtesy U.S. Federal ReserveWe have already seen Ben Bernanke testify to Congress today and the aim was to push back an immediate end to the bond buying and to even push back on the…
The news flow around J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Jamie Dimon has overshadowed the possibility that the largest bank by assets is increasing its dividend for the common stock holders. The…