Michael Ashton

E-PIPHANY

Contributor since: 26 Feb 2010

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• The Market Grows Thinner; I Do Not

  Published 16 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  As the year grows older, it gets more and more difficult to attribute market moves to particular motive forces. In thin conditions, a particularly motivated…

• The Inflation Lows Are In

  Published 15 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Stocks didn't need this. Nominal bonds didn't need this. But TIPS apparently needed this! The CPI index today was fairly close to expectations, with two…

• Bond Vigilantes Are Alive And Well

  Published 14 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  The Federal Reserve, as was widely expected, announced nothing notable following its meeting today. I had thought there was a remote chance the Chairman would…

• Inflation Targeting - Bronco Ben Rides Again?

  Published 13 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Stocks ended flat on the day, but bonds ended higher for a change. The catalyst, interestingly, was a court decision. Bonds had been lower overnight,…

• Do Deficits Matter?

  Published 10 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  According to Bloomberg, Treasuries on Friday fell and stocks rose "as U.S. Economic Data Top Forecasts." Stocks added 0.6%, while 10y note yields perked up…

• Chart-A-Palooza! It's Z.1 Time!

  Published 09 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Initial Claims did not administer the coup de grace to the bond market. While TIPS continued to struggle, bonds were roughly unchanged on the day…

• Panic, But Take Your Time

  Published 08 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Another day of selloff in the bond market, and I wonder how much fingernail-chewing is happening at the Fed? 10-year Treasury yields rose to 3.27%…

• A Welcome Retreat, But Is It Enough?

  Published 07 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  The highest 10-year yields since mid-June were the reward for the news that President Obama had executed a remarkable pirouette and agreed to extend the…

• Oh, Ye Of Little Faith

  Published 06 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  The December doldrums may have officially set in, with equity market volume today essentially matching the lowest readings of the year (with the singular exception…

• If This Is Right, I Sure Don't Want To See Wrong

  Published 03 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Well, it isn't the first time but I was wrong. It turns out there was a big miss in the Employment report. Payrolls rose by…

• Pending Home Sales Up; Pending Stock Sales Down

  Published 02 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  The stock market continues to look like a one-decision investment, as investors piled in for a second day and drove prices still higher. The S&P…

• Lots Of Options

  Published 01 December 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Oh, year-end illiquidity is lots of fun, isn't it? After yesterday's fairly high-volume selloff (the 1.5bln shares was the highest non-witching volume since July 1st),…

• The Terminator Re-Forms

  Published 30 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Blam! Blam! The EU fires and the T-1000 Terminator is blown to bits. Or...is it? There was the ECB's liquidity provisions of 2009, but Greece…

• Justifiably Concerned

  Published 30 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Back in July, when the EU bank stress test results were announced, I noted (in the commentary linked here) that the €3.5bln in capital the…

• Making A Bad Policy Even Worse

  Published 23 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  The markets continue to respond relatively calmly to the news floating about, almost all of which is bad. Although I have not written about it…

• Inevitable But Still Alarming

  Published 22 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Well, just like that, Ireland's ruling coalition sinks beneath the waves. After having promised that the country had enough funds to make it through until…

• Reading The T-Leaves

  Published 18 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  Some bounce for the equity market is certainly understandable, from a psychological perspective. The market had rallied, basically uninterrupted, for two months and 18% or…

• A Bridge To...Another Bridge

  Published 17 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  One day on, one day off - the risk shuffle continues. Irish bonds rallied 17bps today, simply because the EU and the IMF have said…

• Turbulent Flows

  Published 16 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  With the holidays rapidly approaching, it seems the market is striving to get the volatility out of the way as soon as possible. Tuesday was…

• The Bang Has Been Bucked!

  Published 15 November 2010 | viewed 0 times

  A real yield of 0.82% for ten years isn't exactly plush, but on the other hand it is nearly double the real yield that prevailed…