The table below outlines the credit ratings for US states along with individual and coporate income taxes for each state:
Archive:
March 2010
**Update 3/29: Boeing calls initial results of new wing stress test ‘positive’** Before any new aircraft design is put into service it’s required to pass a wing stress test, which stretches the wing to 150% of the most extreme stresses it will face while in service. Reasonable enough. However, what I didn’t realize is that […]
Next week the Fed will cease purchasing agency MBS, to an industry outsider this innocuous sounding fact may not garner much attention, but the reality is the implications are likely very significant, and are already making themselves apparent in the market. Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan recently referred to last week’s jump in U.S. interest […]
What a day, I wake up to the news that Fitch has downgraded Portugal, leading to a strong sell-off in Euro–reaching a ten month low against the dollar. This news was not tremendously surprising, and I expect the situation in Europe will get far worse before getting better, especially if Greece doesn’t find a funding […]
Economists and investors alike are speculating that the Fed could announce a second hike to the discount rate, after increasing its spread over the fed funds target rate to 50bps–compared to its historical level of 100bps. Some investors, despite Fed comments to the contrary, perceived the move as prelude to more significant tightening, be […]
February’s surprise 0.1% increment in industrial production came despite severe winter weather during the month that was expected to hamper production. Amongst the index’s biggest gainers were computers and information processing equipment, which each rose roughly 1%. As Bloomberg put it these increments ‘signal the pickup in U.S. business investment is being sustained’. However, could […]
The wheels of tightening may be gaining momentum in China, after February’s higher than anticipated inflation release. High inflation leading to negative real deposit rates may entice investors to withdraw deposits and invest in more speculative assets, potentially spurring what is arguably already a bubble in the country’s housing sector. I believe that China has […]
Trade, the life blood of the global economy, has begun rebounding nicely since the trough of the global economic crisis. But, January’s US trade data unexpectedly displayed a decline in both exports–the first decline in nine months–and imports, leading to a smaller US trade deficit, but also implying a potential slowdown in global trade. As […]
Here’s the latest state-by-state unemployment data from the BLS. The arrows indicate an increase or decrease in the rate from December 2009 to January 2010. Source: BLS
Since the start of this year I have been a proponent of the belief that China will once again begin to gradually appreciate their currency as exports recover, and inflation begins to creep back into the Chinese economy. As the chart below illustrates, investors in the CNY NDF market appear to share this view. But, […]