AIG, the U.S. government’s $100 billion-plus foster child, has succeeded in borrowing money from people not named Uncle Sam for the first time since its spectacular 2008 implosion, The Wall Street Journal reports.
According to The Journal, AIG sold $2 billion in three- and 10-year notes at yields that were higher than those Read More
Each week, The Observer looks at commodities, stocks, currencies, and economic data points that are making big moves and setting new records. This week’s extreme action takes place everywhere from the ineffably mucked up U.S. real-estate market to the soy farms of Agentina. For the most hard-core, eye-popping economic action this week, check out the Read More
Folksy billionaire Warren Buffett basically thinks anyone who buys bonds at today’s prices is foolish. Speaking at a conference sponsored by Fortune magazine today, Buffett said he “can’t imagine” the justification for buying the assets.
Buffett said that stocks are cheap relative to bonds, and that he predicts investors will regain confidence in Read More
Guess what’s all the rage? Junk bonds, according to The Wall Street Journal. As prices on U.S. Treasury securities and high-grade corporate debt remain inflated, investors are venturing into riskier waters, buying up riskier bonds with fewer protections — all in the name of higher returns.
The Journal says that last week, junk-bond Read More
Here’s a fun characterization of the bond market from Bloomberg columnist and London bureau chief Mark Gilbert: “Like a drunk at a party, the bond market is starting to bump into tables, telling off-color jokes, talking too loudly and spilling drinks. The smart guests will steer clear before he starts screaming at his Read More
Even though he’s left the Obama administration behind, former White House budget director Peter Orszag still finds himself in the unenviable position of preaching fiscal discipline amid a terrifying recession. Only now, he’s doing it for The New York Times.
The issue at hand: faced with a ballooning deficit even by the U.S.’s Read More
Colin Barr at Fortune’s Street Sweep (an Observer Wall Street favorite) offers a balanced take on the where U.S. Treasuries might be headed following their meteoric rise in popularity in 2010.
Traders have flooded into the bond market at a rapid clip as concerns that the economy isn’t recovering fast enough — and Read More
After rising for two days and enjoying a burning-hot August, the bond market is undergoing a pullback today, thanks in part to a better-than-expected manufacturing report from the Institute for Supply Management and rosy numbers out of China’s manufacturing sector. Contrary to Wall Street superstition, the stock Read More
A complete stranglehold over an entire industry just isn’t what it used to be.
After lovable billionaire philanthropist and rapacious capitalist warrior Warren Buffett exited the muni-bond insurance game in 2009, fellow billionaire Wilbur Ross has become the sole major investor in insurance of the $2.8 trillion market for American municipal debt. Holding 16 million Read More
