The capital on the sideline is enormous. Market makers have profited from recent bottom. Hedge funds are making move for the end of Federal Reserve bond buying program. Institutional investors make asset re-allocation to take advantage of the pullback. Individual investors have trimmed down to the core portfolio. The surplus capital can easily drive the market and create herding behaviour, especially among individual investors who are holding cash anxiously on the sideline. Nevertheless, the strategy of market makers are becoming the focus as huge profit is made from the recent sell-off. Hedge funds are also ambitious to participate in market manipulation as the opportunity of the recent sell-off is passed to market makers although profit is made during the commodities rally. Market participants will brace for a turbulent stock market in the earnings reporting period.
Iceland Shows Default Doesn’t Lead to a Deep Freeze
And yet just two months later, Iceland was back in the international borrowing markets for the first time in five years. In early June, Reuters reported, the government sold $1 billion in five-year bonds that yielded just under five percent. "According to the Finance Ministry, the order book was two times oversubscribed, with the majority of the bonds purchased by U.S. and European investors." Given the world's low interest rate environment, that's not so hot. (The U.S. pays just 1.47 percent to borrow for five years.) But Iceland is paying about one-third the interest rate that other crisis-ridden European countries are paying.
So while bond investors are still crying for their losses in Argentina, they're hot for Iceland.
Spring buying boosts home prices in 13 US cities
Home prices in most major U.S. cities are rising for the first time in eight months, boosted by an annual wave of spring buying.
Last year, a tax credit for first-time buyers helped boost prices. They rose nearly 4 percent from April through July before falling more than 7 percent this winter to record lows. Prices in big metro areas sank in March to their lowest level since 2002.
Larger required down payments, tougher lending standards and high unemployment are preventing people from buying. Many people who can afford to buy are holding off, worried that prices have yet to bottom.
Declining prices have kept people from selling houses and moving to find jobs in growing areas. They have also made people feel less wealthy. That has reduced consumer spending, which drives about 70 percent of economic activity.
Despite Fears, Owning Home Retains Allure, Poll Shows
Nearly nine in 10 Americans say homeownership is an important part of the American dream, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. And they are keen on making sure it stays that way, for themselves and everyone else.
Beyond all these ills, however, a persistent belief endures that the market will eventually improve and housing will regain its traditional importance.
Paul Ceglia lawyers leave Facebook suit
As the year-old case progresses, Ceglia is having trouble providing evidence to back his claims. In April, Ceglia amended his complaint to include dozens of incendiary e-mails between himself and Zuckerberg, allegedly sent between July 2003 and July 2004.
But a court filing earlier this month from Ceglia's lawyers said that Ceglia doesn't have the original, digital copies of those e-mails. Instead, he has floppy disks with Microsoft Word documents that contain alleged copy-and-pasted copies of the e-mail messages.
The Real Story Behind the Market 'Boom'
TrimTabs says companies spent a thumping $124 billion in the first three months of the year trying to boost their share prices by buying up stock.
Share buybacks also are a pretty good way of returning cash to investors. They're not as good as paying dividends, but they are a better investment than most of the other things management likes to do with the money — like investing in pet projects, or providing more executive perks or making ill-timed acquisitions.
According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve, corporate debt surged again last quarter — to the highest levels on record.
Investors stay cautious as H2 starts: Reuters poll
Reuters asset allocation polls released on Thursday showed leading investors across the world recovering from May's retrenchment, brought on by fears over a stagnant U.S. economy, potential over-heating in China, and the euro zone debt crisis.
"The investment environment continues to be highly uncertain," said Yoshinori Nagano, senior strategist at Daiwa Asset Management in Tokyo.
A New Investment Strategy: Preparing for End Times
Since the financial crisis, many investors have prospered from a rebound in the markets. But recent events have led some to brace for the worst.
Time to Rein In Corporate Profit Expectations
To be sure, corporate profits will not fall this year. Also, shares of many energy and materials companies, as well as select technology and industrial names, should appease growth-hungry investors.
And Corporate America, sitting on a pile of cash, has plenty of resources for stock buybacks and acquisitions.
Wall Street Wielding the Ax
The cutbacks are coming largely because of sluggish revenue growth on Wall Street's trading desks.
Regulators have clamped down on trading strategies that once generated huge profits but then backfired with staggering losses during the financial crisis.
Meanwhile, bread-and-butter trading clients from hedge-fund managers to mom-and-pop investors are doing less buying and selling, depriving firms of commissions and fees.
Lots of other investors are heading for the sidelines. Average daily trading on U.S. stock exchanges slipped in the second quarter to its lowest level since 2007's fourth quarter, according to Barclays Capital.
But the flow of money into stock mutual funds turned negative in recent weeks. Brokerage firms such as E*Trade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: ETFC - News) have noted slower trading activity among individual investors.
Obama: Ending tax breaks for wealthy not radical
Speaking at a White House news conference, Obama says the government cannot reduce its deficit by keeping all current tax breaks. Obama says if millionaires and billionaires get to keep their tax breaks, senior citizens and the poor will bear the brunt of the burden from additional cuts.
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