Business

It often comes as a surprise to those unfamiliar with the Bank of Japan's M.O., that unlike other developed central banks (except the SNB, of course, while even the PBOC recently admitted it now buys stocks directly to prop up the Chinese stock market via the Buttonwood SPV), the BoJ has no qualms about admitting it actively purchases equities, either in the form of single name stocks or, more actively in recent years, ETFs. Or, as the case may now be, selling them. 

The London property bubble shows renewed signs that it is beginning to burst. Property sellers in the UK have reduced their asking prices and London property prices have fallen by 7.8 per cent on average and as much as 30% in some areas according to City AM today.

City AM – Data via Zoopla

In recent months unexpected calls have emerged from unexpected sources questioning whether capitalism is even working any more in a world in which corporate profits refuse to drop leading to paltry wage gains and thus, lack of the all-important wage inflation. Most recently it was none other than Goldman who wrote in February that "we are always wary of guiding for mean reversion. But, if we are wrong and high margins manage to endure for the next few years (particularly when global demand growth is below trend), there are broader questions to be asked about the efficacy of capitalism."

Real demand for steel in China dropped at least 7% in April from the year before, according to Citigroup’s Tracy Liao estimates, so it should not be a total surprise that the frenzied speculative buying in Iron Ore, Rebar, and various other industrial metals in China has crashed back to reality as volumes plunge, dragging The Baltic Dry Freight Index with it as yet another government-manipulated 'signal' collapses into a miasma of malinvestment and unintended consequences.

Originally posted at Themis Trading,

Sometimes it’s nice to get a sanity check and hear other investors and market professionals views on how the stock market has changed over the past few years.  We hear more and more from various market participants that the market seems to be one big correlated beast that doesn’t trade on supply and demand anymore.  We have opined on this topic many times in the past,  so today we would like to let you read what three other very well respected professionals recently had to say on the topic: