The board will discuss aspects of the epic American credit and bond bubble and it's ramifications for investors. Emphasis will be on how to profit from (or at least survive) a bond bear market and/or a credit collapse. Basic entry prerequistes to take this lab: 1. the knowledge that bond prices move inversely to interest rates. 2. an understanding that bonds can lose value if credit conditions deteriorate.
Food for thought:
"A sound banker, alas, is not one who forsees danger and avoids it, but one who, when he is ruined, is ruined in a conventional and orthodox way along with his fellows, so that no one can really blame him". - John Maynard Keynes
Lab tools:
Good glossary: investinginbonds.com
Treasury yields: bondtalk.com
30yr Treasury/Vanguard High Yield Corp ratio to track credit spreads. stockcharts.com[m,a]daclniay[pd20,2!b50][vc60][iUc20!Lf]&pref=G
Investment-speculative grade spread: www2.standardandpoors.com
Japanese Government Bond (JGB) quote: futuresource.com
Agency spreads: gcm.com
Key bubble related charts and graphics from the Hoisington Management presentation at Grant Conference, Nov. 13, 2003: Message 19632973
Economic releases and data (NBER): nber.org
Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI): businesscycle.com
Terrific economic data base and graphic capacity: economagic.com
Daily Treasury Statement; withholding tax receipts: fms.treas.gov
Key measure of cheap loosey goosey easy credit to consumers; mortgage application index, purchase index, refi index, out every Wed. I'm looking for a chart/graphic: mbaa.org
Rasmussen consumer and investor confidence, also daily Bush- Kerry polls: rasmussenreports.com
TrimTabs (Charles Biderman) weekly liquidity report: trimtabs.com
AMG mutual fund flows: amgdata.com
Investment Institute, mutual fund cash levels come out end of month: ici.org
Insider selling and buying: Thomsons, hit "market tear sheet": insider.thomsonfn.com
Fed repurchase pool: bullandbearwise.com
Fed permanent operations: ny.frb.org
Some original thinking on how fed repos impact markets: financialsense.com
St. Louis Fed data and updates: treasure trove: research.stlouisfed.org
research.stlouisfed.org
Fed govt securities bought outright (monetized): federalreserve.gov
Federal Reserve flow of funds data: federalreserve.gov
Foreign transactions in US securities (Updated on the 11th business day of each month, with a 1.5 month lag.) in 2004: Jan 16, Feb 17, Mar 15, Apr 15, May 17, June 15, July 16, Aug 16, Sept 16, Oct 18, Nov 16 and Dec 15. treas.gov
Bureau of Economic Analysis: bea.doc.gov
Federal Reserve Economic Data: St. Louis Fed research.stlouisfed.org
Tokyo-Mitsubishi economic and retail data: btmna.com
Baltic freight index(BDIY): quote.bloomberg.com
JOC-ECRI industrial commodities index: joc.com
LME metal inventories, another good "maladjusted economy" indicator: metalprices.com
Spectrum Commodites: one of best wealth of information sites on commodities markets. Education section is especially worthwhile: spectrumcommodities.com
Coal prices: eia.doe.gov
Dairy product prices: hoards.com
Bureau of Labor Statistics, general: bls.gov
Bureau of Labor Statistics, with focus on food and energy inflation: data.bls.gov
Life in the trenches with purchasing managers (Purchasing.com): manufacturing.net
Fed fund forwards, implied rates: trendmacro.com
Committment of traders (COT) reports: 64.82.65.31
Prudent Bear commentaries; key on Doug Noland's Credit Bubble Bulletin (updated weekends), Marshall Auerback, and Richard Duncan: prudentbear.com
Financial Sense Online (Jim Puplava), some very good weekend interviews and links to other sites: netcastdaily.com
Excellent commentary and graphics from Contrary Investor: contraryinvestor.com
Don Coxe Monthly Basic Points: corporate.bmo.com
Bill Fleckenstein: moneycentral.msn.com
Bank Credit Analyst: bcaresearch.com
Futures market quotes: sites2.barchart.com
2004 Presidential election, deja vu all over again? mydd.com
My Inflation Train Wreck Essay: financialsense.com |