Jul 20
Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
Talk of a downgrade on U.S. debt has investors worried about its potential impact on Treasurys, but some market watchers say other assets stand to lose even more.
As the possibility of the U.S. losing its Aaa debt rating draws closer, experts are starting to grow more concerned — not about Treasurys, but about the ancillary effects such an unprecedented move would have on other types of bonds and even stocks. Since so many large institutions and countries own Treasurys, there are a lot of forces propping up government bonds. Other assets don’t have the same buffer.
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Tags: Debt, Debt Debacles
Jul 19
U.S. Bank (NYSE: USB) is continuing its string of contactless payment innovations by introducing a new technology for those on-the-go.
The bank announced plans to introduce a new U.S. Bank MasterCard(R) PayPass(TM) VITAband(R) — a wristband that, similar to credit cards with EMV chips, will allow customers to simply tap the band to make purchases with merchants that accept contactless paper payments. The bands will also be linked to an Emergency Response Profile (ERP) so that medical professional’s have access to a U.S. Bank account holder’s medical information in the event of an emergency.
How it Works:
The PayPass VITAband uses a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) payment chip, allowing customers to make contactless payments as well as load and reload funds. The wri
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Tags: Bank, Bank Unveils
Jul 19
Stock markets around the world have been looking pretty ugly lately, but gold has climbed for eleven straight days – reaching a new all-time high of $1,605 an ounce! Prediction: More of the same.
The European crisis is deepening. Couple that with the ills in the US and it makes for a grim picture. Concerning the EU crisis, Barron’s ran a fascinating interview over the weekend with Sean Egan, the head of Egan-Jones, an independent credit ratings agency. “Independent” means that Egan-Jones earns money from subscribers seeking insight, not from companies seeking the rosiest assessment possible. Egan-Jones’ revenue model, therefore, is in direct contrast to S&P and Moody’s, who earn money from the companies they rate.
You can bet that incentives are vastly different between the two business models. It’s like t
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Tags: Gold, Gold Hits