Michael Ashton

E-PIPHANY

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• Reprieve...'Til Dawn

  Published 03 August 2011 | viewed 0 times

  The Bank of England meets tomorrow morning, with rates already sitting at 0.50%. The ECB also meets, with the policy rate at 1.50%. Today, the…

• A Slightly Longer Fuse

  Published 02 August 2011 | viewed 0 times

  I think it was Billy Joel who said something like "you can't trade trashy until you spend a lot of money." Today, the Congress finished…

• No Engine Left

  Published 01 August 2011 | viewed 0 times

  The overnight equity-market rally lasted a full three minutes into the trading day before investors began the sell-the-news trade following the generally-expected pop on news…

• Deal, Or No Deal?

  Published 31 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Investors on Friday felt a bit betrayed, while the man on the street said "See? I told you so!" as the Bureau of Economic Analysis…

• Of Haircuts and Helicopters

  Published 28 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Bonds shrugged off somewhat-upbeat economic news and stocks managed to fade late in the day. As bullishly as the equity market was behaving two weeks…

• Now That's European Unity For You

  Published 27 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  It seemingly dawned on investors today that something smells bad and it isn't clear whether it is something that is already in the trash (say,…

• Rating For Godot

  Published 26 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  I have said several times that I expect the debt ceiling debate, as heated as it has become, will be resolved "just in time" and…

• A Billion Screaming Benjamins

  Published 25 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Can one billion Benjamins be wrong? Actually, it's more like 1.57 billion hundred-dollar-bills (aka "Benjamins") that the EU and private bondholders are committing to the…

• 160 Billion Euro Later, Not Much Closer To Resolution

  Published 21 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  If €160 billion could somehow be an unimportant amount, today it was. But before we get to the latest discouraging result from the EU, let's…

• Readying the Next Bumper Crop of Money

  Published 20 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  It has now happened twice in the last few weeks that equities have blasted off, seemingly on nothing or next-to-nothing, before trading sideways for a…

• If The Change In Our Pockets Isn't Enough

  Published 18 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  I begin to wonder how much more 'flight to quality premium' there can be in U.S. Treasury bonds. Today Greek 10-year yields rose 59bps to…

• Page Ten News

  Published 17 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  On Friday the BLS released the monthly CPI figures, and there was again a little gasp when an 0.3% on Core inflation graced the tape.…

• Deflation Fears Are A Distant Memory

  Published 14 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  A whirlwind of data this morning left the market undisturbed. Retail Sales and PPI came in as-expected; Initial Claims was stronger-than-expected by 10k, but last…

• Donuts To Dollars

  Published 13 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  As expected, the news event du jour was Chairman Bernanke's semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress (neé Humphrey-Hawkins). Before we get into the market's…

• (More) Silence Would Be Golden

  Published 12 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Most of the New York trading day on Tuesday was sedate, if you could overlook the fact that equity futures had a 25-point range overnight.…

• Warning: Flabbergasting Area

  Published 11 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  These days I find myself alternately flabbergasted and outraged, with very little else. And sometimes, I am both. Exhibit "A' is the bill that my…

• No, Mister Bond, I Expect You to Die!

  Published 10 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Warning: excessively long post. And I apologize about the many different fonts on the various charts! That was not the Payrolls number I was expecting,…

• Wounded Worrier

  Published 07 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  The stock market continues to power ahead, with the S&P up another 1.1% today and about 7% over the last 8 trading sessions. For those…

• Go Long Egg Cups

  Published 05 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  Now that Greece has avoided the immediate default by promising whatever was necessary to get the latest tranche of aid, the real game has begun…

• Goodbye QE2, We Hardly Liked Ye

  Published 01 July 2011 | viewed 0 times

  QE2 is now over. Long live QE2! The following table illustrates the effect of the second bout of quantitative easing from start to finish. I've…