Archive - Sep 3, 2009 - Story

"This “new” vs. “old” normal dichotomy was perhaps best contrasted by Barton Biggs, as I heard him on Bloomberg Radio in early 2009, when he said he was a “child of the bull market.” I thought that was a brilliant phrase, and Barton is a brilliant phrase-maker. He went on to say though, that his point was that for as long as he’s been in the business – and that’s a long time – it has paid to buy the dips, because markets, economies, profits, and assets always rebounded and went to higher levels. That is not only the way that he learned it, but that is the way, basically, that capitalism is supposed to work. Economies grow, profits grow, just like children do. I think that’s why he said he was a child of the bull market, not just because he had experienced it for so long, but also because economic growth and higher asset prices are almost invariably a natural evolution, much like the maturation of a person. That’s how people grow, and so I think Barton was saying that capitalism just grows that way too. Well, the surprise is that there’s been a significant break in that growth pattern, because of delevering, deglobalization, and reregulation." - Bill Gross

• U.S. retailers report weak sales (WSJ)
• Weil: Investors find love in $260 billion black hole (Bloomberg)
• Reilly: Banks need to end $1 trillion kick the can game (Bloomberg)
• Ratings firms lose free-speech bid to dismiss lawsuit (Bloomberg)
• Jobless claims higher than expected (Bloomberg)
• OECD joins the green shoots bandwagon, just 4 months behind the curve (AP)

• Asian stocks gain on Gold, Alcoa forecast; Honda drops on strong Yen.
• China to buy around $50B in notes denominated in the IMF's quasi-currency.
• China's stocks rise most in six months
• Employment in the US private sector falls by 298000 in August
• European Central Bank will leave interest rates at a record low to nurture recovery
• European equities were seen falling for a fourth straight session