| Interest rate cut spooks skeptics
The Federal Reserve handed out a second interest rate cut on Halloween, giving markets and borrowers the treat they were expecting. But skeptics questioned whether the quarter-point rate cut aimed at shoring up the housing market would unleash the specter of inflation on a day where gold and oil prices hit new highs. "If they hadn't cut interest rates, it would have been a disaster," said Ashwani Kaul, a senior analyst with Reuters Estimates in New York. Stock investors had priced in a cut, and the absence of one would have spooked markets in a big way, he said. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 137.54, or 1 percent, to 13,930.01, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 42.41, or 1.5 percent, to close at 2,859.12 Wednesday. Consumers should benefit from the Fed action via lower costs on variable-rate credit cards, auto loans and home-equity lines of credit, said Scott Anderson, a senior economist with Wells Fargo in Minneapolis.
Obama: Beware 'Reverse Bradley'
Huckabee's transparently trying to have it both ways--but it's not clear why he won't have it both ways. Transparently cynical arrangements seem to be working well this year! At least with Iowans.... P.S.: This seems like the MSM jumping in in order to discover for itself that Huckabee is imploding after he has already been taken down by Romney's attack spots. ... 2:00 P.M. ___________________________ Kf Hero of the Day: Gov. Strickland of Ohio, who commits a classic Kinsley gaffe, foolishly telling the truth about Iowa ... and about New Hampshire. In an interview with The Dispatch last week, Strickland said the Iowa caucuses make "no sense." He called the GOP and Democratic caucuses "hugely undemocratic," because the process "excludes so many people." Anyone who happens to be working or is sick or too old to get out for a few hours Thursday night won't be able to participate, Strickland said.
Gold Investments Market Update
Lenders have about $160 billion of so-called leveraged loans and $70 billion of junk bonds that they underwrote last year. They were stuck holding the debt as the collapse of the subprime mortgage market in the U.S. drove investors from all except the safest government securities. Banks including Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Morgan Stanley are struggling to unload debt from last year's record $438 billion of leveraged buyouts. The market for high-yield bonds has been shut since July in Europe and sales in the U.S. slowed to $850 million this year from $6.3 billion in the same period in 2007, data compiled by Bloomberg show.Billionaire investor George Soros said the fallout from the current global financial crisis (the worst since World War II) will bring about the end of the dollar's status as the world's reserve currency.
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