FURTHER FURTHER READING
- Goldman would like to clarify some commodities matters.
- The Tourre trial powers onward.
- Chinese growth, or all eyes on financial liberalisation.
- The irony of NYT journos vs Nate Silver.
- GMO: "Today's valuations only make sense in light of low expected cash rates..."
ROUND-UP
Larry Summers now the frontrunner for Fed? 'People dismissed Summers's chances a month or two ago, but he's increasingly viewed as the leading candidate today — and opinions on this, for reasons I don't fully understand... have really hardened in the last 72 hours.' (Wonkblog)
'...I'm very much in the Yellen camp.' (Economist's View)
Apple beat. Stronger sales of iPhones helped the company post earnings of $7.47 per share, compared to expectations of $7.30. Revenues were $35.3bn, and net profit $6.9bn, but iPad business was slower than expected, with shipments dropping from 17m a year ago to 14.6m (Financial Times). Apple's fourth-quarter guidance was for sales of between $34bn and $37bn, below analysts' midpoint expectation of $37bn (Wall Street Journal).
Senators may use subpoena powers to investigate banks' trading and ownership of physical commodities. "We have been into this issue for a long time and it's a very, very significant issue," said Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, following a Banking subcommittee hearing on Tuesday (Bloomberg).
Freddie Mac and a new kind of mortgage security: 'Freddie is selling a new financial product it calls structured agency credit risk, or Stacrs, pronounced "stackers", which will absorb some of the losses on a pool of government-guaranteed mortgages that it currently holds in its portfolio... it is hoped that they will help discover a market price for default risks that are currently borne by the taxpayer.' (Financial Times)
