Business

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan admitted in an interview with Sara Eisen that quantitative easing did what it was supposed to do, which was to inflate stock prices and drive multiple expansion.

He was confused as to why things such as corporate earnings, capital spending, and productivity have declined given how much QE was pumped into the system. The answer to the riddle of course, is that QE was never intended to help fix anything fundamentally, it was as Kyle Bass said recently, simply a mechanism to transfer wealth and make the rich richer.

Currently the US Dollar, traded on the stock market as (UUP), and (USDU); is the world's reserve currency. Although there is talk of the fall of the US Dollar as the world reserve currency, it's all talk and there's no signs that this will happen any time soon. Hungary recently issued sovereign bonds in Yuan - but so what? It's just a drop in the bucket. The practical fact is there is no real threat to the US Dollar's status as a reserve currency. However, there may be one.

By EconMatters

We reported last week that BP is facing a revolt from its shareholders over the salary of its CEO Bob Dudley. What happened was BP's Board approved an executive compensation package including a 20% raise in 2015 to nearly $20 million for its CEO Bob Dudley. Although we do not have the detail of other executive compensations, they must be pretty generous judging from Dudley's 20% raise.

Sometimes you have to laugh...

• *BRENT CRUDE ERASES DECLINE, TRADES 22C HIGHER AT $43.32/BBL

While WTI is still not quite there, Brent Crude has erased a 7%-plus decline...

Credit Suisse suggests a few reasons for the Market Bounce - Pain trade higher, Energy covering, Gorman comments, NAHB elevated, HY/Equities decoupling from oil

1-HF exposures remain at 3 year lows + long only cash parked on sidelines – Pain trade higher, dips being bought most cited reason for this morning’s bounce

 

Almost exactly two years ago, in April 2014, Greece issued €2.5 billion in 5 year bond yielding around 5%, which was met with huge investor interest and ended up being 8x oversubscribed. Fast forward to today when another former shutout from global bond markets, Argentina, is in the FT's words, "on the cusp of one of the most anticipated comebacks in recent history, as the Latin American country ends a 15-year exile from the international debt market with a multibillion-dollar sale."