Business

2017 has been a banner year for the world’s richest individuals.

Pumped by a tidal wave of central-bank driven liquidity and corporate buybacks, equity indexes around the world climbed to all-time highs this year – a phenomenon that has disproportionately benefited the world’s wealthiest, particularly the 500 individuals included in Bloomberg’s billionaires index.

By the end of trading Tuesday, Dec. 26, the 500 billionaires controlled an aggregate $5.3 trillion, a $1.1 trillion increase from their holdings on Dec. 27 2016.

By Nicholas Colas via DataTrekResearch.com,

When you see something titled “Bitcoin 2018 Predictions”, you are probably most interested in just one thing: “Where will it go?” So let’s start there, but then add some other observations on a variety of topics.

#1: We expect bitcoin will trade for between $6,470 and $21,600.

Here’s how we get there:

After yesterday's ugly, tailing 2-Year auction, it is probably not a big surprise that today's sale of $34 billion in 5Y Treasurys was just as ugly.

The auction printed at a high yield of 2.245% - the highest since March 2011 - and well above last month's 2.066% largely thank to the recent Fed rate hike. More troubling is that the auction tailed the When Issued 2.228% by a whopping 1.7bps, the biggest tail going back at least 2 years.

Authored by Jeffrey Snider via Alhambra Investment Partners,

When Janet Yellen spoke at her regular press conference following the FOMC decision in September 2017 to begin reducing the Fed’s balance sheet, the Chairman was forced to acknowledge that while the unemployment rate was well below what the central bank’s models view as inflationary it hadn’t yet shown up in the PCE Deflator.

First Appearing on HedgeAccordingly.com

Sixth in a series. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

By @sellputs

Seems like everybody wants to buy in on bitcoin, and if you do, brace for a gut-tossing rollercoaster ride and another drawback, as well:  Trading costs in crypto are astonishingly high.