According to the ancient Mayan calendar, the world will end in December 2012. If banking analyst Meredith Whitney is right, the beginning of the end might be around the corner. Whitney, who rose to prominence after a pessimistic report on Citigroup issued in late 2007 later proved to be painfully accurate, has been zeroed in on the municipal bond sector for some time now as the next market to enter into a freefall. She first turned heads last year when predicting that between 50 and 100 local governments could default on obligations worth hundreds of billions of dollars–a collapse that would almost certainly be felt throughout global financial markets. [click to continue…]
After witnessing an impressive run-up through the first three quarters of the year, more and more investors are now expressing concern over a bubble in bond markets. Reaction to the recent announcement of another round of QE has skewed towards the negative, as economists both in the U.S. and around the globe have predicted that [...]
U.S. equity markets surged to start the week, as solid retail sales helped to boost optimism in the markets early in Monday trading. However, stocks eventually slumped and finished the day close to breakeven, as the Dow managed to gain just 0.1% while the S&P 500 lost 0.1% and the Nasdaq fell by 0.2%. Commodity [...]
After lingering in the background of the ETF industry for the last several years, fixed income funds have stepped up in recent months to become one of the primary drivers of growth. Through the first seven months of 2010, cash inflows to ETFs totaled $49 billion. Of this amount, more than $23 billion has been [...]
Massive budget deficits brought on by years of reckless spending and low taxes have put many cash-strapped nations such as Greece and Spain in impossible positions. These countries now find themselves searching for ways to cut fat from their bloated budgets and get their fiscal houses in order and avoid the financial devastation that comes [...]
With interest rates near record lows and expected to remain there for the foreseeable future, many investors have begun searching for alternatives to Treasuries that offer more attractive yields (see Five Bond ETFs For Yield-Hungry Investors). Junk bonds and closed-end funds have been popular choices, but some investors in higher tax brackets have embraced municipal [...]
Perhaps no area in the U.S. (with the possible exception of Michigan) has felt the pinch of the recession worse than the Golden State. California, the most populous state (home to eight of the country’s 50 largest cities) and third-largest by land area, has seen tax revenues plummet and unemployment skyrocket over the past 18 [...]
