To: mishedlo who wrote (29862 ) 4/2/2005 8:50:07 AM From: russwinter Read Replies (1) | Respond to Connecting some of the dots:prudentbear.com Bank Credit has expanded a remarkable $301.8 billion during the first 12 weeks of the year (19.4% annualized). Securities Credit is up $119.4 billion, or 27% annualized year-to-date. Real Estate loans have expanded at a 17% rate during the first 12 weeks of 2005 to $2.642 Trillion. April 1 – Bloomberg (Claudia Carpenter): “Commodities prices had their second-biggest quarterly gain since 1988 as oil jumped to a record $57.60 a barrel, copper touched a 16-year high and coffee, soybeans and cotton rose 15 percent or more. Surging demand for raw materials in China and accelerating economic growth in the U.S. helped send the Reuters-CRB Index of 17 commodities up 10.5 percent, the most since an 11.2 percent gain in the 2004 first quarter. The index rose to a 24-year high on March 16 and may reach a record because investors are buying commodities as alternatives to U.S. stocks and bonds. ‘We’re continuing to see, even with the highs reached in commodities, just a mushrooming in how many institutional investors are allocating new money,’ said Robert Leary, 44, a managing director at Wilton, Connecticut-based AIG Financial Products Corp….” ABS issuance slowed to $6 billion (from JPMorgan). First quarter issuance of $149 billion was about unchanged from comparable 2004. At $93 billion, y-t-d home equity ABS issuance was 6% above year ago levels. The bond bear took a respite. Two-year Treasury yields declined 12 basis points this week to 3.73%. Five-year Treasury yields dropped 17 basis to 4.12%, and ten-year Treasury yields sank 15 basis points to 4.45%. The long-bond saw its yield drop 12 basis points to 4.72%. Message 21189447
