Posts Tagged ‘Thomas Jordan’
May 22, 2013
When the Jazzman’s Testifying
A Faithless Man Believes
He Can Sing You Into Paradise
Or Bring You to Your Knees
–Carole King
Last night’s BLOG warned that the Twitter feeds would create great volatility as the Fed chairman appeared before the Joint Economic Committee and the markets were not disappointed. The precious metals, currencies and stocks all initially staged impressive rallies, until the questioning turned to the Fed’s plans to TAPER the large-scale asset purchases. Bernanke’s testimony was basically a rehash of NYFRB President Dudley’s speech from yesterday. In the prepared TEXT the chairman made it known that “withdrawing policy accommodation at this juncture would be highly unlikely to produce such conditions” (in referring to when the economy would be sound enough to have sustainably higher rates). Further, “a premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further.”
Tags:Ben Bernanke, Fed, MBS, SNB, Thomas Jordan, William Dudley, Yen
Posted in Currency, Fed | 3 Comments »
December 13, 2012
Well, the famed modeler from M.I.T. has finally admitted that he has been an avid reader of Notes From Underground and in the world of global macro finance, 2+2=5. The FOMC statement was a surrender to the work of Michael Woodford as was pre-released in a Janet Yellen speech a few weeks ago. The FED will give great credence to a 6.5% unemployment and a 2% inflation threshold, give or take a 0.5% discretionary prerogative. The 6.5% unemployment threshold is also subject to FED discretion for it seems to depend on whether or not the labor participation rate is increasing while the unemployment rate declines.
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Tags:Ben Bernanke, BOJ, EUR/CHF, FOMC, Gold, gold/euro, gold/Swiss, Janet Yelln, MBS, Michael Woodford, QE4, Shinzo Abe, SNB, Thomas Jordan, U.S. 10-Year Note, Yen, yen/dollar, ZIRP
Posted in BoJ, Currency, Debt Market, Fed, Japan, SNB | 5 Comments »
November 28, 2012
The Chairman of the Swiss National Bank delivered a speech today in Bern, “SNB monetary and investment policy and the impact of the strong Swiss Franc.” The investing world knows that the Swiss have pegged the franc to the euro at 1.20 more than a year ago and have been successful in keeping the floor of the EUR/CHF in place. The result has been a massive growth in the Swiss foreign reserves as the SNB has had to diversify out of some of the euros and into other currencies. Mr. Jordan made it clear that the SNB was “prepared to buy foreign currency in unlimited quantities.” The Swiss will continue to keep the EUR/CHF floor in place as part of its mandate on monetary policy for an overly strong FRANC has a deflationary impact on the Swiss economy.
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Tags:EUR/CHF, Euro, Fed, monetization, operation twist, QE, SNB, SWF, Thomas Jordan
Posted in Central Banks | 7 Comments »
September 12, 2012
The German High Court sustained the ESM but laid out that the BAILOUT FUND had to stick to its agreed cap (EU190 BILLION) and that as suspected any further moves to enhance the bond buying program would have to be decided by the BUNDESTAG. It sustained the position of Chancellor Merkel for the time being, thus it makes President Draghi’s move to keep the period of financing to the short-term (LTRO FOREVER) a wise strategic move. The BUNDESTAG will be under pressure to adhere to the concept of “STRICT CONDITIONALITY” as Merkel and Schaeuble will have to be very attuned to the mood of the German citizenry as the Merkel government faces national elections in 2013.
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Tags:Brazilian real, Bundestag, corn, Dutch elections, ESM, EUR/CHF, Euro, FOMC, GCC, Gold, Kiwi, Merkel, oats, platinum, precious metals, RBNZ, SNB, soybeans, Thomas Jordan, Weidmann
Posted in Commodities, Currency, Germany | 4 Comments »
September 3, 2012
Jackson Hole is over and the ECB and BOE meet on Thursday so let’s take a minute and look at what is going on with the Swiss National Bank and the impact its EURO policy is having on world asset pricing. As the SNB maintains its present floor on the EUR/CHF cross rate–REMEMBER 1.20 is the level–the BANK is forced to continue buying EUROS to maintain the PEG. All those EURO PURCHASES have to go somewhere as the SNB does not want to be left holding the proverbial bag if the Germans say NEIN to the EU and the EURO would collapse. The SNB has been forced to buy German, Dutch, Austrian, French and Finnish sovereign debt, but with those instruments yielding negative rates on 2-YEAR NOTES the Swiss are forced to seek out alternative assets to alleviate the massive exposure to the peripheral sovereigns.
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Tags:Australian dollar, BOE, ECB, EUR/CHF, RBA, SNB, Swiss 2-yr notes, Thomas Jordan, XSTRATA/Glencore
Posted in Currency, Debt Market, SNB | 5 Comments »
July 2, 2012
The loser in Brussels was … FRANCE. The markets were giddy as they drank deep from the KOOL AID spring of separating BANK AND SOVEREIGN SOLVENCY … did this really occur? It is far too early to tell. For all the “PUNDITS” it seems that Chancellor Merkel has capitulated to the needs of Spain and Italy as France cheered on the brinkmanship of Mario Monti. The French, led by President Hollande, has now ended the 50-year-old policy of Gaullism as France will no longer be deemed a responsible partner for Germany as being the mainstay of Europe.
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Tags:EUR/CHF, France, Germany, Hollande, Italy, Merkel, Mexican peso, Monti, Nieto, SNB, Spain, Thomas Jordan
Posted in Europe, Mexico, SNB | 7 Comments »
February 7, 2012
All quick hitters tonight:
***Last night the
RBA proved consensus wrong and moved to
hold rates steady at 4.25% rather than cutting the
OVERNIGHT RATE 25 basis points. Readers of
NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND are well aware that I think very highly of
RBA GOVERNOR STEVENS for the bank’s comments on the global economy are pithy and prescient. The
RBA‘s release was loaded with opinion about the
EUROPEAN efforts to stem the sovereign debt crisis and noted that the
LTRO alleviated the “acute financial pressures” on banks. The
RBA did note that “should demand conditions weaken materially, the inflation outlook would provide scope for easier monetary policy.”
Tags:CHF Peg, China, ECB, IMF, LTRO, RBA, SNB, Thomas Jordan
Posted in Europe, RBA, Switzerland | 2 Comments »
