Free Republic

Analysts at Swiss Re expect economic distress to remain elevated for average US citizens over the next year, with increases a real threat as the likelihood of stagflation and recession has substantially risen. In the US, Swiss Re notes that the misery index is now in the highest 20% of readings over almost 50 years, an indicator of mounting economic pain to citizens. The cause is high inflation, and analysts see lower-wage workers as particularly vulnerable due to their exposure to both relatively high unemployment and the greatest erosion of their purchasing power. The misery index is a sum of...

The multidecade-long bull market in Treasurys has delivered rich gains to patient investors, but a 2021 bond-market selloff is likely inflicting significant pain on some market participants. Though many were expecting yields to rise this year as the reflation narrative gained ground, few were prepared for the rapid rise in long-term bond yields since the start of this year. Yields move in the opposite direction of bond prices.

Please stop, I silently beg the three drivers heading down the on ramp to Interstate 70 from Washington Avenue. I’m driving parallel to them at 55 mph with a line of traffic behind me. I have my turn signal on signifying that I’m getting off at the exit just west of that on ramp. I cannot slam on my brakes and stop on the highway to allow these drivers to merge into my lane. Yet they keep coming down the ramp toward me. Fear has crept into my throat and I cannot scream if I wanted to. Don’t they understand...

NEW YORK — A rout in oil prices shook financial markets Friday, pushing stocks to their worst weekly loss in two and a half years. The stock market fell sharply as investors worried that slumping oil demand is signaling that growth outside of the U.S. is weaker than earlier thought. And while consumers and airlines will benefit from lower fuel prices, energy companies will see their earnings suffer. Some may even go out of business.

EURO GOVT-Italian 10-year yields rise above 7 percent 5:24am EST * Italian 10-year yields top 7 pct * LCH.Clearnet SA. margin increase on Italian debt hits BTPs * Yield curve inverts, reflecting repayment nerves By Marius Zaharia LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Italian 10-year bond yields topped on Wednesday the 7 percent level widely deemed unsustainable after an increase in the cost of using the country's bonds to raise funds offset hopes for more reforms in Italy as its prime minister agreed to step down. A 7 percent yield was seen by many in markets as a red line as...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Prices for Treasury securities jumped Thursday, sending the yield on the two-year note to a record low, as investors rushed to U.S. government debt in search of safety. Stocks tumbled around the world on worries that the U.S. economy is weakening and that Europe's debt problems are getting worse. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 513 points, its biggest drop since December 2008. The yield on the two-year Treasury note fell to 0.26 percent, a record low. Late Wednesday it was 0.34 percent. Bond yields fall when demand for them increases. That means traders are willing...

The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday sold securities that fetched a negative yield for the first time, implying investors are willing to pay the government to own its debt. This is a milestone in the current rock-bottom interest rate environment, as the Federal Reserve is widely expected next week to announce it will buy more Treasuries to jump-start a sluggish economy. Typically, investors buy a new Treasury bond at "par" or $100. At Monday's $10 billion auction of five-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), they paid more than $105

After nearly nine months off line, the Presidential Prayer Team announces the re-launch of Adopt Our Troops in Prayer. --- Limited donations and technological resources forced us to halt, but we're thrilled to announce Adopt Our Troops in Prayer IS BACK! Click the link to either register a Troop or Adopt a Troop for prayer.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Two new polls show the November mid-term congressional elections could yield a landslide for the pro-life movement. As pro-life groups look to replace the aggressively pro-abortion Democratic leadership that gave Americans the health care bill and its taxpayer funding of abortions, polls show change is coming. With the leadership of the Republican Party in the House and Senate strongly pro-life and with most GOP candidates taking a pro-life stance and most Democrats backing abortion, a party change in Congress benefits pro-life interests. With that in mind, a new Gallup poll shows a marked enthusiasm gap in...

March 1, 2010, 6:06 p.m. EST Credit crunched Country debt may no longer be guarantee for investors: Pimco's Gross By Sam Mamudi, MarketWatch NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest mutual fund, believes the debt of some nations may in the future be no better than private debt issued by corporations. Sovereign debt has typically offered lower yields than corporate credit because of the presumed ability of national governments to self-finance. Gross, manager of the $200 billion Pimco Total Return Fund (FUND:PTTRX) , says that the worst-hit countries of the financial crisis might see that advantage...

N. Korean nuclear blast probably less powerful than hoped for: Yale scholar By Sam Kim SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) -- North Korea apparently failed to achieve desired explosiveness in its second nuclear test, a Yale University professor says, citing seismic readings that have been generated by it. North Korea set off an underground nuclear explosion on Monday, creating a shock that registered 4.52 in magnitude on the Richter scale, according to a Vienna-based anti-nuclear weapons organization. North Korea produced a magnitude of 4.1 in its first test in October 2006, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty says. Jefferey Park, director of the...

On Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano, which rises more than 13,000 feet above sea level, there is a mid-level base facility where scientists can pretend they are on the moon. Hawaii's volcanic terrain, soil and remote environment provide an ideal environment for testing instruments and equipment that someday may be used by astronauts at a lunar base. Recently, a team of scientists working for the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES) demonstrated its first field test for NASA's In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) Project. Research Operations Manager John Hamilton supported the mission simulation to show how astronauts will be...

US Dollar Plummets as US 10-Year Treasury Yields Hit Record Lows Thursday December 18, 8:40 am ET By David Rodriguez, Quantitative Analyst strategist@dailyfx.com A massive flight to quality has left US 10-Year Treasury Bond Yields at their lowest levels on record—further emphasizing extreme risk aversion in global financial markets. Banks and other financial entities unwilling to lend to one another have desperately sought safe haven for funds, and US Government debt has largely been the instrument of choice for many investors. Such flows have not resulted in net demand for US Dollars, however, as we have actually seen the US...

China Money: Bond curve may have steepened enough Reuters - Monday, December 8 By Alex Wang ADVERTISEMENT SHANGHAI, Dec 8 - China's bond yield curve has steepened spectacularly in the last few months as the central bank has flooded the money market with funds. But short-term yields are now so low that the curve may flatten back moderately. The spread between the indicative one-year government bond yield and the 20-year yield ballooned to a multi-year high of 218 basis points on Monday from just 67 bps two months ago, Reuters Reference Rates show. There were good reasons for the steepening....

I had mentioned in a previous post that you need to be watching the ‘flow of money’ rather than the stock market. As you can see today, there are a number of investors that are gambling that this whole ‘crisis’ was a hoax and that they stand to make a whole lot of money by getting in at market bottom. But what does the money movement say? I’m going to teach you a very easy way to know if liquidity in our market is expanding or drying up. In other words, is the circulatory system of our economy healthy? Or...

VENTURA, Calif. - The spot where a pair of outhouses stood 130 years ago is proving to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover some 19th Century artifacts — and a mystery. The one-time site of privies for men and women has been built upon repeatedly. Recently, crews demolished a former school bus barn on the 3.5-acre downtown site in order to build a condominium complex and a parking garage. But first, archaeologists were called in. Beginning in late May, they started digging into the ground in a discovery process that...

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2007 – Although it’s too early to draw firm conclusions, the new combined Iraqi-U.S. security effort to reduce violence in Iraq’s capital city already seems to be bearing fruit, a senior U.S. military officer said today in Baghdad. U.S. Army Brig. Gen. John F. Campbell, deputy commanding general for maneuver, Multi-National Division–Baghdad, discusses ongoing security operations with Iraqi Army Brig. Gen. Ali in Baghdad’s Sadr City section, March 5. Photo by Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Army Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a spokesman for Multinational Force Iraq, talked with a...

A just-unearthed cave formed more than 1 million years ago could yield new insight into the geological history of the American West, according to scientists, who called the discovery a major find. Four amateur cave explorers uncovered the vast caverns, stretching more than 1,000 feet into a remote mountainside, in August. Visitors to the cave, dubbed Ursa Minor, described seeing millions of crystals that shimmered like diamonds lodged in its walls. Translucent mineral curtains hung from the ceiling, and a lake possibly 20 feet deep filled one of the cave's five known rooms. Passages leading into darkness suggested there was...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2006 – Iraqi army units, along with coalition force advisors, conducted multiple raids yesterday to capture suspected insurgents, U.S. military officials said. In a raid in Habbiniyah, Iraqi army forces captured two people believed to have engaged in insurgent activities against Iraqi and coalition forces. One was a suspected makeshift-bomb maker connected with multiple attacks against coalition forces, officials said. An insurgent engaged in an intimidation campaign against Iraqi citizens also was captured during a raid in Taji. The suspect controlled an insurgent cell that engaged in the systematic kidnapping of Iraqi citizens, officials said. In a...

WASHINGTON, May 29, 2006 – No good can come of speculation surrounding a Nov. 19 incident in Haditha, Iraq, in which 24 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed in the aftermath of a roadside bomb attack, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. Marine Gen. Peter Pace also stressed that investigations into alleged misconduct by U.S. Marines in the incident are not yet complete. Appearing on CNN's "American Morning" for what was to have been an interview focusing on the nation's Memorial Day observance today, Pace told Miles O'Brien that two investigations are still in...