I’m streamlining my twitter feed a bit to cut down on noise and to make it easier to keep track of key information links to refer to later. In Quick Takes I post links I find of interest & relevant on any given day. These links will cover a broad spectrum of items, from the market impacting/relevant to economic & political news, social and the occasional potpourri/humorous and I may add a quick thought/impression.

If you, as I am, sift through tons of news throughout the day to stay informed then you may come to find these Quick Takes as a useful resource.

Russia Feels Economic Growth Limits Again After Short-Lived Acceleration

Iceland House Prices Soar 56%, But This $1 Billion Fund Keeps Buying

Euro Economy Is Heading Towards a Golden Period

QT: I find the growth stories disingenuous because they are all paid for with massive artificial liquidity. Now try it without QE and artificially low rates.

UK shoppers cut spending by most in more than four years – Visa

QT: They have to as UK consumers have been adding to debt loads while real wages have been declining.

Airbus Loses Its $1 Trillion Order Book

QT: One word: Accounting

The U.S. Yield Curve Is Flattening and Here’s Why It Matters

Junk-Bond ETFs Shed $1.3 Billion in a Week as Rout Picks Up Pace

QT: The canary or just a bump in the road? I’ve posted details this weekend (Caution: Slowdown & The Great Void ).

GE announces broad restructuring, to keep health care, aviation, and energy units

QT: First comes the dividend cut, then come the job cuts.

NY Fed wades into low stock market volatility debate

“On the one hand we present a view suggesting that historical volatility may have been abnormally high, rather than current volatility being abnormally low”. On the other hand, we find that estimates of the volatility risk premium are somewhat low, which is consistent with the view that investor risk tolerance has increased.” The authors add that if the lack of volatility has led investors to ramp up leverage and increase the amount of risk they are exposed then a small shock to asset prices could force investors to rapidly sell assets, increasing volatility and creating a vicious cycle. “This feedback loop creates risk endogenously, meaning that low volatility in itself can be a catalyst for high future volatility,” said the authors.”

QT: CYA at its finest. But the notion that during all of previous market history volatility was abnormally high and the current lack of it is normal is laughable.

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