Interesting News - 04/14/2013

• Consumers show fresh caution - the latest Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan reading on consumer sentiment fell to the lowest level in nine months.
• Treasury warns Japan on Yen - The U.S. said it would closely monitor Japan's economic policies to ensure they are aimed at boosting growth, not weakening the value of the currency. The yen now is hovering near a four-year low of around 100 yen/dollar in response to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's policies.
• J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo struggle - a mortgage-refinancing boom that helped fuel a surge in bank profits is fizzling, a sign of worsening health for the financial sector and the U.S. economy. The performance "underscore expectations for a slowing economy over perhaps the next couple of quarters," said bank analyst Todd Hagerman of Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. 
• Gold sinks into bear territory - many gold investors have headed for the exits in pursuit of better returns in the U.S. stock market, where benchmark indexes have hit record highs. Meanwhile, the traditional catalysts for gold prices - inflation worries and financial-market turmoil - have ebbed somewhat, further dimming gold's appeal.