It used to be that the term ‘international liquidity’ meant the relative amount of resources available to a nation’s monetary authorities that could be used to settle a balance of payments deficit. In the days of the gold standard, this would mean access to gold that could be used to redeem a nation’s currency held […]

Over the decade, 1995-2004, the demand for U.S. bonds of all types has surpassed new bond issues in eight of the last ten years. This is the reason that bond prices have held firm, even in 2003, when net new issues reached almost $1.8 trillion. According the Federal Reserve Flow of Funds Accounts, six groups made […]

Private equity firms now control about 7% of U.S. corporate equity, or $800 billion, according to estimates of Thomson Venture Economics and quoted in the BusinessWeek cover story, “Going Private”, of February 27, 2006. Private equity firms gather capital from the Super-Rich in order to take firms private and to concentrate on long-term goals, escaping over- […]