Monthly Archives: March 2012

Major Holders of Japanese Govt Bonds (JGBs)

Posted on March 7, 2012 by macromon

Note the central bank holdings are increasing significantly . (click here if chart is not observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Bonds, Japan | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Could Tiger Do This?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by macromon

Here is the next Masters Champion taking a point from Anna Sharapova  at the BNP Paribas Showdown at MSG on Monday night.   Rory, the number one ranked golfer in the world, was there watching his girlfriend,  Caroline Wozniacki,  play … Continue reading →

Posted in General Interest | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Is Sunspot Theory Back?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by macromon

Do you remember being flabbergasted as an economic graduate student when studying business cycles and learning that recessions and booms were once linked to sunspots and solar flares?  In case you haven’t heard, the sun emitted a massive solar flare … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, General Interest | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

U.S. Posts First Petro Product Trade Surplus Since 1949

Posted on March 7, 2012 by macromon

The times they are a-changin’. According to the EIA the United States exported more petroleum products than it imported in 2011 for the first time since 1949.   Though declining, American refiners still imports large amounts of crude oil. Strong global … Continue reading →

Posted in Commodities, Crude Oil | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Our Pick for World Bank President: Arminio Fraga

Posted on March 7, 2012 by macromon

Bloomberg’s Tom Keene reported this morning that Bill Gates is on the short list to replace  Robert Zoellick as President of the World Bank.   As former Bank employees we’re O.K. with that and kind of surprised Hillary isn’t on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Policy | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Charlie Rose: Daniel Kahneman

Posted on March 6, 2012 by macromon

This is a must view for all investors and traders.   Daniel Kahneman is the only non-economist to win the Nobel Prize in economics and his work provides key insights into market, investor, and trader biases.   There is  no doubt, at … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The Great Sovereign Debt Enabler: Low Interest Rates

Posted on March 6, 2012 by macromon

(click here if charts are not observable)

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Iceland’s ex PM: ‘We didn’t know the banks were fishy’

Posted on March 6, 2012 by macromon

The balance sheets of Iceland’s banks were 9x the country’s GDP before the crash.  Stunning! (click here if video is not observable)

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , | Leave a comment

S&P500: Next Stop 50-day?

Posted on March 6, 2012 by macromon

We posted last week that the S&P500 could go to 1340 and then we’d reconsider our market view.  Interestingly,  today’s low on the cash S&P500 was 1340.03. We also had doubts there were enough sellers to take equities down.   It … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Euro, Sovereign Debt, Sovereign Risk | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Why the Yen is swan diving

Posted on March 5, 2012 by macromon

The WSJ does a good explaining what is driving the Yen and seems to agree with us that there is a huge difference between quantitative easing to stimulate the economy versus monetizing bad government debt for which there is no … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Japan, Monetary Policy, Sovereign Debt | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments