Just two days after S&P downgraded Hartford to junk, Moody's has piled on, pushing the Connecticut State capital below investment-grade due to "the increased likelihood that the city will pursue debt restructurings to address its fiscal challenges."
Tech stocks are up once again - for the 5th day in a row, the longest streak since May - as the business media celebrates FANG's rennaissance (again)...
There's just one thing that is 'odd' about this rally, traders are piling into downside hedges on every uptick in prices...
As Bloomberg notes, options markets suggest a lack of confidence in the rally.
Shortly after yesterday's rate hike by the Bank of Canada, its first since 2010, we warned that as rates in Canada begin to rise, the local economy which has seen a striking decline in hourly earnings in the past year, which remains greatly reliant on a vibrant construction sector, and where households are the most levered on record, if there is anything that can burst the local housing bubble, it is tighter monetary conditions. And a bubble it is, as the chart below clearly demonstrates...
Noting that she is "looking very closely at inflation," The Fed's Lael Brainard continued the recent trend of warnings from Fed speakers by noting "asset valuations do look a bit stretched," which seemed to take some of the exuberance out of stocks...
Brainard adds to the list of Fed worriers, as we detailed previously...
There's free-speech and there's Bezos-approved free-speech...
It seems the message is beginning to sink in that the constant liberal media attacks on Trump, 'the right', Russia, and anyone daring to not denigrate any of these - is not welcome among most Americans... (as WSJ noted this week)...
Skepticism toward the media is most often associated with conservatives in Middle America, some of whom eat something other than artisanal sandwiches.