News
CNN Money | Stocks: Get ready for the summer bummer
Over the past 50 years, the S&P 500 has gained just 1.3% on average in the May to October period, compared with an average gain of 7.1% in the other six months of a given year, according to Jeff Hirsch, editor of the Stock Trader's Almanac.
Bloomberg | Pending Sales of U.S. Existing Homes Rise Most Since 2011
Contracts to purchase previously owned U.S. homes climbed in March by the most in almost three years, showing residential real estate was starting to stabilize entering the spring selling season.
CNN Money | Bank of America's big math error
The Federal Reserve required BofA on Monday to ditch its plans to return cash to shareholders after the bank said it incorrectly reported capital ratios in recent stress tests.
Bloomberg | Fannie-Freddie Fate Hangs on Senate Action This Week
A U.S. Senate plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the most thorough yet for winding down the two mortgage financiers, faces a first test this week with its authors making last-minute changes to gather more support.
Market Watch | Spring tide seen lifting economy, U.S. hiring
A flood of reports this week, led by job creation in April, is likely to show that U.S. growth is cresting higher. And the Federal Reserve is expected to affirm its own confidence in the health of the recovery by taking another step to scale down its easy-money strategy.
Econ Comments & Analysis
Real Clear Markets | Are We Under-Saving for Retirement?
Can America afford to retire? As millions of baby boomers pass their mid-60s, the specter of widespread under-saving has taken hold. Huge numbers of present and future retirees will exhaust their savings before they die. Mass hardship looms, even as the costs of an aging society already weigh on the young and middle-aged. It's a scary vision. But is it likely? Probably not.
Washington Times | In New York vs. Texas, it’s TKO by Texas
Every successful politician understands that you never start a fight you can’t win, and it’s an adage that Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York has taken to heart. Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, flew to New York City the other day to round up entrepreneurs to take a few of them back home to the business-friendly Lone Star State. Before he left, Mr. Perry dared Mr. Cuomo to stand up for his state’s economic policies in a one-on-one debate.
Real Clear Markets | Government Shouldn't Block Our Chance to Own, and Grow Rich
Asset limits were created to reduce welfare fraud. The worry was that people who had the means to support themselves from assets (mainly bank savings) would collect government benefits instead when their incomes were low enough to qualify. It is unclear if this ever was a large scale problem, but it sends exactly the wrong message to people on the edge between poverty and self-sufficiency.
WSJ | Demand-Side Policy Gave Us the Big Economic Fizzle
Nearly five years since the recession ended in June 2009, economic policy discussions continue to focus on dubious short-term countercyclical measures to "stimulate demand." The Economic Report of the President for 2014 wastes an entire chapter rehashing the jobs supposedly "saved or created" by the 2009 fiscal stimulus and Federal Reserve easing.
Fortune | In Brooklyn, a grasp at giving 'big data' meaning
Big data will save the world, they say. It will change the way we do business, they say. It could tell us things we didn't know we didn't know, they say. Some of that might be true and some of it may not -- but the point is that the hype around the term "big data" is thick enough to require a chainsaw to cut through. The technology is promising; the semantics are another story.
Blogs
WSJ | Five Takeaways From New GDP-by-Industry Report
The Commerce Department on Friday presented a new quarterly breakdown of gross domestic product by 22 industries, a report that is meant to complement the department’s widely followed gauge of economic output by types of expenditure like personal consumption and business investment.
CATO | Supply-Side Economics from the Founder of the Brookings Institution
“Within limits, the system of progressive taxation is defensible and effective. Beyond a certain point, however, it dulls incentives, and may destroy the principal source of funds for new enterprises involving exceptional risks.”–Harold G. Moulton
WSJ | How Much Will Mortgage Rates Rise In Fannie, Freddie Overhaul?
The Senate Banking Committee beginning Tuesday will take up a bipartisan bill that so far has attracted the most support from lawmakers from both parties. It would replace Fannie and Freddie with a new system by which private firms could issue mortgage-backed securities and purchase federal insurance. Private investors would be required to take initial losses before government guarantees would kick in.
