Fed on track to cut bond buys to $65 billion at coming meeting
Wall Street Journal
The Fed is on track to trim its bond-buying program for the second time in six weeks as a lackluster December jobs report failed to diminish the central bank’s expectations for solid U.S. economic growth this year.
shared by @firstadopter, @HamzeiAnalytics, @TNYJohnCassidy
 

Wall Street Banks Remain Vulnerable on Derivatives Five Years After Financial Crisis
Wall Street Journal
Many large banks and their regulators remain unprepared to deal with problems in the immense market for derivatives, a multinational watchdog group has warned.
shared by @fiatcurrency, @markgongloff, @FGoria, @moorehn, @Kiffmeister
 

For the Love of Money
New York Times
We are letting money addiction drive too much of our society.
shared by @kevinroose, reddit/Economics, Reformed Broker, @M_C_Klein
 

Oxfam: 85 richest people as wealthy as poorest half of the world
theguardian.com
As World Economic Forum starts in Davos, development charity claims growing inequality has been driven by ’power grab’.
shared by @AnjuliDavies, @Kelly_Evans, @fiatcurrency, @GTCost
 

​The Profits Bubble
researchaffiliates.com
​Profits are dangerously elevated by all reasonable measures. The rise in income inequality is a direct consequence of a spectacular reallocation of income to capital and away from labor.
shared by @cullenroche, Reformed Broker, @mccarthyryanj, @howardlindzon
 

The Costs of Working Too Much
New Yorker
Overwork has become a credential of prosperity. And yet the perplexing thing about the cult of overwork is that, as we’ve known for a while, long hours diminish both productivity and quality.
shared by @retheauditors, Reformed Broker, @mccarthyryanj, @ReformedBroker
 

Geithner Said U.S. Would Respond to Downgrade, S&P Says
Bloomberg
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told McGraw Hill Financial Inc. Chairman Harold W. McGraw III in 2011 that Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. debt would be met by a response, S&P said.
shared by @cate_long, @JohnLothian
 

Investors Most Upbeat in 5 Years With Record 59% Bullish in Poll
Bloomberg
International investors are the most upbeat about the global economy than at any time in almost five years, buoyed by the U.S.-led revival of industrial nations, according to the Bloomberg Global Poll.
shared by @EddyElfenbein, @JacobWolinsky, @SallieKrawcheck
 

Wells Fargo bans staff from investing in P2P loans
Financial Times
Wells Fargo has banned its employees from lending their own money through peer-to-peer loan platforms, in a sign of growing tensions between new “P2P” lenders and the largest US bank by market value.
shared by @TheStalwart, NYT Dealbook, @peter_tl, @DavidSchawel, @Kiffmeister
 

Investor Animal Spirits Spread to Companies Worldwide
Bloomberg
Companies around the world are starting to share the exuberance that inspired investors last year.
shared by Naked Capitalism, @AlephBlog, @JohnLothian, Reformed Broker
 

Dropbox has raised $250 million at a $10 billion valuation
Wall Street Journal
Dropbox has closed on about $250 million in a round of funding that values the online-storage provider at close to $10 billion, according to two people familiar with the deal.
shared by NYT Dealbook, @mccarthyryanj, @StockJockey, @newsycombinator
 

How Bernanke the Scholar Became Fed Iconoclast
Bloomberg
As he prepares to conclude his eight-year tenure as central bank chief at the end of the month, Bernanke is one of the most significant figures in contemporary U.S. government. Few have risen more boldly to confront a crisis, his political talents were underestimated, and the 60-year-old scholar of the Great Depression is about as soft as cast iron.
shared by @greg_ip, @davidmwessel, @JohnLothian, @BarbarianCap, @Neil_Irwin
 

Don’t Hate the Asset, Hate the Price!
The Reformed Broker
The idea of owning gold miners last year had become laughable by the time the final bell had rung. The sector was down more than 50% versus the S&P 500’s to
shared by @MichaelKitces, @howardlindzon, @Convertbond, @M_C_Klein
 

The onrushing wave
The Economist
Society may find itself sorely tested if, as seems possible, growth and innovation deliver handsome gains to the skilled, while the rest cling to dwindling employment opportunities at stagnant wages.
shared by @davidmwessel, Naked Capitalism, reddit/Economics
 

Rich Chinese continue to flee China
CNBC
A new report shows that 64 percent of Chinese millionaires have either emigrated or plan to emigrate—taking their spending and fortunes with them.
shared by @delong, @AmyResnick, @Noahpinion, @naufalsanaullah