Category Archives: Economics

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

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

Korea PMI Expands After 7-Month Contraction

Posted on March 2, 2012 by macromon

From Markit, Commenting on the South Korea Manufacturing PMI® survey, Ronald Man, Economist at HSBC in Asia said: “At last, manufacturing conditions in Korea have improved. More importantly for policy makers, new orders have picked up, which suggests that demand … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Global PMI Little Changed @ 51.1, Costs Accelerate

Posted on March 2, 2012 by macromon

From today’s Markit release, The JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI™ broadly held its ground at 51.1 in February, little-changed from 51.3 in January, to signal an improvement in operating conditions for the third straight month. Levels of output, new orders and … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Manufacturing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Chart Trioka

Posted on March 1, 2012 by macromon

We’re keeping these three charts on our radar over the next year. With a heavily spiked punch bowl,  we suspect U.S. monetary policymakers will be a little nervous if they start to see bank credit accelerate and a rapid expansion … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Inflation/Deflation, Monetary Policy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Fareed Zakaria: Interview with George Soros

Posted on February 26, 2012 by macromon

Here is Fareed’s interview with George Soros from a couple weeks ago that we’ve been meaning to post and thought you’d find interesting.   We suspect the 15 minutes you spend watching it will return a nice dividend.   Enjoy. (click here … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Economics, Hedge Funds, Whales | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

The Great Repression: Freedom of Speech in the Bond Market

Posted on February 23, 2012 by macromon

We’re baffled anybody still looks to the U.S. bond market for signals of future economic activity, inflation, or even risk aversion.  Case in point is today’s 7-year bond auction, which CNBC’s Rick Santelli rated an eleven on a scale of … Continue reading →

Posted in Black Swan Watch, Bonds, Budget Deficit, Economics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Eurozone PMI contracts in February

Posted on February 22, 2012 by macromon

From Markit’s release earlier today, The Markit Eurozone PMI® Composite Output Index fell from 50.4 in January to 49.7 in February, according to the preliminary ‘flash’ reading based on around 85% of usual monthly replies. The latest figure signalled a … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Euro | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

China Flash PMI At 4-month High

Posted on February 21, 2012 by macromon

From today’s Markit release, Commenting on the Flash China Manufacturing PMI survey, Hongbin Qu, Chief Economist, China & Co-Head of Asian Economic Research at HSBC said: “Growth remains on track of slowdown, despite the marginal improvement in the headline flash … Continue reading →

Posted in China, Economics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment