Jan 13. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission begins
–Stocks, gold, oil, grains all fell yesterday, as did yields, in spite of this week’s treasury supply. Ten year fell nearly 10 bps to 3.72%. The curve finally flattened, with red/gold pack spread in by 8 bps.
–Ten year note auction today, followed by the Beige Book.
–(Reuters) – “President Barack Obama’s emergency spending measures last year saved up to 2 million U.S. jobs.” Is that the positive spin??
–From the Chamber of Commerce: “Congress, the administration and states must recognize that our weak economy simply could not sustain all the new taxes, regulations and mandates now under consideration. It’s a sure-fire recipe for a double-dip recession, or worse,” Donohue said in a speech providing the Chamber’s outlook for 2010.
–Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission starts today with top bankers appearing before the panel.
–(BBG) “Bank of America has the highest credit-card default rate of any of the six-biggest U.S. card issuers, a distinction the lender has held since April … the credit-card business has posted five straight quarterly losses totaling $4.7 billion.”
–Fan attendance at the 11th expo was down between 10% and 20% from a year, and there were 267 exhibitors this year, an 11% drop from 2009. (bad news for the porn expo).
–(Z-Hedge) The ABC Consumer Confidence index plummeted last week, falling from -41 to -47, sustaining “one of its steepest one-week drops in the last quarter century..”
