Bonds
Bonds Articles
For the second week in a row, the number of US mortgage applications rose, but the vast majority of the action came in refinancing, not new purchases. This spells continuing pressure on new home...
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Standard & Poor’s may have done the inevitable move of a U.S. credit ratings downgrade and it may have followed with the downgrade of the insurance companies and with many government agencies...
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The S&P downgrade of the United States may have the investment community in a fuss, but many investors saw this coming long before. To say that investors will not see a knee-jerk reaction in...
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If you can count on one thing from Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK-A) any longer, it is for him to stay very positive and upbeat about the long-term prospects of the United...
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The headlines might seem shocking when you see that Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the United States’ credit rating to “AA+” from what was the sacred “AAA” rating. This rumor was...
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The floor for interest rates is ZERO. Right? Apparently not when extreme conditions arise. Those extreme conditions came today as investors moved solidly into the safety of very short-dated...
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The media keeps pointing to a double-dip recession. It is such a commonly used term that no one even cares that this is technically just the starting point of the next recession. Terms do not...
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You have now seen that the Senate followed the House in the vote to raise the debt ceiling. The credit ratings agencies are still lingering out there over how to rate the creditworthiness of the...
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The Bank of Ireland (NYSE: IRE) is likely going to go private. U.S.-based WL Ross, a private equity firm, and Canada’s Fairfax Financial Holdings are each taking a stake in the bank of 9% after...
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Troubling data keeps coming out of the old world mutual fund universe. Battered by two bear markets in a decade, mutual fund investors have continued to flee positions in actively managed funds...
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The world of Mortgage REITs offers massive yields for income investors. There is a big caveat here. It offers massive yields, until it doesn’t… then you don’t want to be around this...
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Bonds should be a part of almost all portfolios through time, particularly for those getting more elevated in age who need safety. It is no secret that U.S. bond yields are just dismal regardless...
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The ratings agencies may have been totally off the mark ahead of the mortgage crisis that helped to wreck our economy, but do not think for a second that they are not still a force that can move...
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The European Banking Authority has published the results of its 2011 stress test of 90 banks in 21 countries in the Euro-area. While the aim is “to assess the resilience of the banks involved in...
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As if you didn’t know that Greece and other nations classified as PIIGS were in trouble, and as if you did not know that ratings agencies are busy slashing ratings almost daily or weekly in these...
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