Is there anyone involved in financial markets who doesn’t believe that GLOBAL BOND MARKETS ARE BROKEN AS INDICATORS OF PREDICTED ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE? The FED has pursued a policy of TWISTS AND QEs as it pursued a policy of forcing real long-term yields to ultra-low levels in an effort to stimulate the housing market, capital investment and the portfolio balance channel in forcing investors to opt for riskier assets to enhance yield (Greenspan’s beloved wealth effect). The problem is that as the FED and other CENTRAL BANKS have bought TRILLIONS of sovereign debt in an effort to stimulate the global economy much COLLATERAL has gone onto the books of the monetary authorities and left the REPO markets lacking the necessary collateral.
Posts Tagged ‘BIS’
Notes From Underground: All My Words Come Back to Me in Shades of Mediocrity (Homeward Bound)
April 9, 2012Friday’s weaker than expected JOBS REPORT caused AGITA in the BOND and EQUITY MARKETS. Early in the week, the markets had punished the BONDS and EQUITIES as the FOMC MINUTES caused the purveyors of QE3 as a SURE THING to stop, look and listen. The sounds that they had listened to were from the previous speech by Chairman Bernanke as he voiced his deep concerns about the persistent drag of unemployment on GDP. The rush of FED governors and District presidents to any microphone to undermine the chairman’s views caused the market to pause and reconsider its stance on possible FED normalizing rates quicker than the “extended period” language presumed. Stocks were under pressure and U.S. Treasuries were offered as hints of FED buying grabbed traders attention.
Notes From Underground: Getting To The Core Issue In Apple’s Dividend
March 19, 2012Today, in an interview with Betty Liu on Bloomberg TV, I was asked about the “news” of the day, of course that being the APPLE decision to pay a dividend and buy back stock. Long-time readers of NOTES are aware that I am a believer in stock dividends as a way to return capital to the genuine owners of a corporation: THE SHAREHOLDERS. Ms. LIU wanted to know if the APPLE news was bullish for the EQUITY markets as the share price of the technological behemoth would drive all indices higher. As a GLOBAL MACRO analyst/trader/investor, I said that it was more bullish for capitalism in America.
Notes From Underground: All is well in Ireland as the debt crisis has been resolved–and no corporate tax increase
November 21, 2010It has been a very slow news weekend. There were no major events, and, if you can believe it, the EU and IMF have agreed to a support package for the Irish banks and other institutions that are under stress. Nobody can really be shocked by this as the readers of NOTES have been prepped as to this outcome. The Irish polity at this point did not have to surrender its sovereignty as it doesn’t have to raise its corporate tax, at least not yet. Markets are responding positively as the S&Ps, EURO and COMMODITIES are all higher as the all-clear signal is given.
Notes From Underground: Jackson Hole is where the market focus will be … and Bernanke the main act?
August 25, 2010It has been written in many domains that the speech to watch will be the paper delivered by Raghuram Rajan and Bill White. What will they say? We don’t have a clue but they are being given a great deal of pre-speech attention. Why? They have been proven prescient in their early views on the danger of asset bubbles and predicted the housing crash. Alan Greenspan belittled their work in 2005 and that is all we need to know. Even Bernanke, who was skeptical of the possibility of pricking asset bubbles, has given Professor Rajan much more respect than he previously did so will be particularly attentive to these two academics and the work they present.
Notes From Underground: The peripheral nations are trying to get ahead of the inflation curve … with CAUTION
July 29, 2010Last night, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand raised the overnight interest rates as expected from 3.00 percent from 2.75 percent. This was no surprise as the market widely had anticipated it. The move by the Central Banks of India and Israel was also expected, although the probabilities of the Israeli move were less than the others. So New Zealand raised rates and the currency was sold off, which has significantly weakened on the crosses. The market had a very negative reaction to RBNZ Chief Alan Bollard’s very cautious comments about rates going forward. With KIWI inflation running at an annualized rate of 2 percent, the RBNZ feels it is now ahead of inflation and will watch global growth and see how it effects New Zealand. Bollard expressed concern about the recent strength of the Kiwi and in his statement said:
“The New Zealand dollar has appreciated in recent weeks.This appreciation is inconsistent with the softeningin the New Zealand’s economic outlook …”
Notes From Underground: SAFE secrets no longer in the vault
July 7, 2010The State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), which administers the vast CHINESE foreign reserves, said it would not go the “nuclear option” and dump U.S. treasuries in a one-off move to reallocate its holdings, but SAFE called upon Washington and other governments to pursue “responsible” policies. The SAFE official told the world that during the last four months they’ve been accumulating Japanese government bonds at a record rate, which has recently pushed the YEN to new highs. Also, the Chinese officials said they would not be purchasing GOLD as the market was too thin and volatile. Plus, whatever the Chinese purchased would not be enough to truly diversify their portfolio.
Notes From Underground: Gold swaps between European Central Banks and the BIS
July 6, 2010There are discussions abound about the role that GOLD has taken on in the short-term funding needs of some sovereign states in Europe. It seems that since the beginning of the year some banks have been raising currency by swapping gold with the BIS. These are not sales but swaps. The GOLD market has judged this action to be bearish GOLD, but at this point we don’t see that view as factual.
Notes From Underground: G-20 is waste of time and energy; finreg is just a waste
June 27, 2010Germany added liquidity but it was all directed at the British goalie David James–nothing austere about their World Cup peformance. The news from the G-20 was as expected: Nothing short of a waste of time and the resulting communique will be the paradigm of vacuousness. The Chinese took center stage in that they spoke up for the developing nations, stating they wanted input in the discussions about global problems. We agree with the Chinese that the G-8 is an atavistic appendage of a past colonial world and is merely the delusional forum for those wishing to hold onto a past that left the arena long ago. Yes, we are sure that Russia, Brazil and the others that make up the most robust members of the emerging world want to advise the likes of Italy, Spain and France who have certainly failed to get their own economic houses in order.
