Everything seems to be lining up perfectly for individual investors with Joe Biden and Kevin McCarthy making a debt ceiling deal. In fact, a sentiment poll reflects an ebullient investor class. According to an Investors Intelligence article titled “Assume the Positioning” (reprinted in Almost Daily Grant’s , June 1, 2023), “Just 23.3 percent of
Like ships taking on water, banks are throwing assets overboard trying to stay afloat. PacWest sold $3.5 billion in lender finance loans to private lender Ares last week. The Financial Times reports, “Ares paid $2.01bn in cash for the first tranche, less than its principal balance of $2.07bn. PacWest had previously raised $2.36bn by selling
While the jobs report came in less than hot, Reuters still described the labor market as “still-tight” on the first Friday of July. Fed Chair Jerome Powell and the other experts in charge of destroying jobs and job opportunities for common folk will no doubt raise rates this month and next. Higher rates have already taken a toll on real estate
It seems Powerball has lost its zip. The Wall Street Journal reports, “There were $152 million in nationwide sales for Saturday’s $829 million jackpot—a 25% decline from the $197 million in sales for another $825 million Powerball drawing on Oct. 29, 2022, according to Lottoreport.com, which tracks sales.” The WSJ found an economist to weigh in
That annoying clicking sound you hear from your nearby pickleball courts is not just the paddles hitting the plastic balls. It’s twisting knees and cracking hips. A report from UBS, reported in the Financial Times , estimates medical costs of $250 million to $500 million “directly attributable to pickleball and see potential for greater medical
These hot, lazy days of summer have investors lulled to a comfortable slumber with a foot firmly on the gas pedal. The July 25th Almost Daily Grant’s reported that BofA strategists, going all the way back to 2008, determined that “it has never cost less to protect against an S&P 500 drawdown of 5% or more over the next 12 months, as higher rates
An ongoing debate concerns the plunge in the four-week Treasury note yield in relation to the three-month Treasury yield. At least one tweeter claims it’s all about the coming debt ceiling showdown with the difference in rates (3.145 percent versus 5.070 percent) reflecting the risk of having liquidity tied up within three months as the debt
Citizens Financial Group Inc (CFG.N) , PNC Financial Services Group (PNC.N) , JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and US Bancorp in NFL Draft parlance are “on the clock.” These banking white knights are thought to be among the bidders vying for the remaining carcass of First Republic Bank in an auction process being run by the Federal Deposit Insurance
The talking heads on financial TV ask everyday where we are in the banking crisis. Is it over yet? After scooping up First Republic, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon said, “This part of the crisis is over.” After he said that, however, the shares of regional banks such as PacWest, Zions, and Western Alliance were cut in half. The market doesn’t believe Mr.
It’s the deposits. Bankers never used to worry about the money customers left in their banks. When deposited, the money was lent out while depositors could come and get their money anytime if it was a demand deposit. Thus, the depositor and the borrower had the use of the same money at the same time. Murray Rothbard called it fraud. Now it’s 2023
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The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.