We at Notes From Underground haven’t been publishing as frequently but we have been working more intensively than ever. The global financial situation is fraught with many areas of potential hazards to shock the established complacencies of current equity market rallies.
Archive for the ‘SNB’ Category
Notes From Underground: So Many Piles of Dry Tinder
July 17, 2023Notes From Underground: ‘Twas the Week Before Christmas
December 18, 2022Last week, the leaders of the world’s central banks were attempting to regain their souls. FEDERAL RESERVE Chair Jerome Powell told tales of woe as workers were suffering as inflation rose. Crush the evil inflation out of the system is the battle cry in an effort to recreate the melodrama of Andrew Mellon in 1931: liquidate, liquidate, liquidate in an effort to Calvinize the evil from the economy by crushing demand. Powell did note that housing had weakened SIGNIFICANTLY and financial conditions HAVE TIGHTENED CONSIDERABLY but will have to be patient because monetary policy acts with a lag.
Notes From Underground: The Fed As G-30 Proxy?
August 1, 2021Last week’s FOMC meeting went as expected but the press conference actually provided some solid questions as the media put some pressure on Chair Jerome Powell. NPR actually received an answer to what TRANSITORY means to the Fed chair: Prices will stay but the process of inflation will stop or slow dramatically. Hmm, the continued use of the LUMBER and AUTO markets did not reflect that definition at all. It seemed that the authorities were pursuing the concept of roll back.
Notes From Underground: Never Have Been and Never Will Be
December 21, 2020… a supporter of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. In my opinion, he’s another Wall Street hack devoid of any genuine knowledge of the global macro world in which he his sent to do battle on a daily basis. Last week’s decision to label Vietnam and Switzerland as “currency manipulators” is badly timed, badly chosen and badly misinformed. Why would you name Vietnam a currency manipulator when a large part of the Trump administration’s policy is directed toward relocating global supply chains away from China. In addition, labelling Vietnam a “currency manipulator “is an immoral and unconscionable act. Even Bob McNamara is spinning on his “rotisserie in hell.”
Notes From Underground: Myopic Gibberish
May 12, 2020The Tweeter-in-Chief on Tuesday was pushing on a string as he called for NEGATIVE INTEREST RATES (again). The Federal Reserve is also debating in public the idea of negative interest rates and seemed to believe there are better tools to be utilizing than rates below zero.
Notes From Underground: SNB, Paradigm or Pariah?
May 4, 2020Question: Why does the Swiss National Bank become an important topic for discussion?
Answer: Since Mario Draghi’s “whatever it takes” and “no taboos” comments in 2012 about saving the euro. The SNB has been in a defensive position of trying to prevent a dramatic appreciation of the FRANC as the SWISS acts as a haven for Europeans. The geographic location provides for what economists refer to as home basis.
Notes From Underground: Into the Dark Recesses of My Mind
March 3, 2020Three weeks ago we at NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND suggested the Fed needed to cut interest rates by 50 basis points in an effort to get ahead of the potential negative economic fallout from a DEMAND SHOCK caused by the Covid-19 virus. But the rate cut was to be presented with the caveat that this was an economic cut and financial considerations were not involved. If the demand shock from the VIRUS never materialized the cut would be RESCINDED. After announcing an emergency cut Tuesday Chairman Jerome Powell took a few questions from the media.
Notes From Underground: A New Form of Asian Contagion
February 23, 2020On July 2, 1997 the Thai baht entered crisis mode, kicking off what become known as 18 months of Asian Contagion. The so-called Asian Tigers experienced massive capital disruptions as the Chinese economic miracle undermined the capital expenditure projects that were creating the manufacturing capacity to lift the TIGERS out of poverty and into significance in the global supply chain. The emerging markets learned that as fast as capital flows in to support foreign direct investment it can hurriedly depart as it seeks alternative venues with a better competitive advantage .
Notes From Underground: “It’s Good News Week”
December 10, 2019What an appropriate song for the band Hedgehoppers Anonymous. This week is loaded with potential market-moving outcomes. On Wednesday we have the final FOMC statement of the year followed by Chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference. The CONSENSUS is for no change in the current fed funds target range of 1.5% to 1.75%. The real key will hopefully be Powell’s press conference as market participants are hoping for any sort of dialogue about the Fed’s role in the repo market.
Notes From Underground: Trump Has Weaponized The Dollar. Do the Longs Know?
June 12, 2019Some shots were fired last Friday, but it seems that the markets can only hear the siren song of White House tweets. There was an important story from Bloomberg reporter Saleha Mohsin titled, “Trump’s Currency War Plan Puts Treasury and Commerce at Odds.” The article noted that “a Commerce Department proposal to impose countervailing tariffs on countries that it determines have devalued their currencies has alarmed officials at the Treasury Department.”
It appears that President Trump has grown frustrated by Treasury’s failure to name any country as a “currency manipulator.” It has been Treasury’s bailiwick to monitor the foreign exchange interventions of countries who strive to artificially hold down the value of their currencies in an effort gain a competitive advantage versus any G20 country, especially the U.S. (from the Treasury Department perspective).