Posts Tagged ‘ECB’
June 12, 2018
I’m going to be off for a few days, even if this Fed meeting proves to be the most market-moving week in many years.
The news from North Korea proves to be a non-event (as suspected). On Wednesday, we get the FOMC statement, which OUGHT to meet market expectations with a 25 basis point increase and some sense of the interest on excess reserve (IOER) rate in reference to fed funds. There is much discussion about the FED reaching “normal” interest rates, meaning neither too weak nor too strong to reach its dual mandate.
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Tags:BOJ, deficit, ECB, Europe, Fed, FOMC, Gold, IOER, Jerome Powell, Kuroda, Mario Draghi, Paul Tudor Jones, Treasury issuance
Posted in BoJ, Central Banks, ECB, Fed, Gold | 5 Comments »
June 5, 2018
Sorry. The current situation in the European Union has been well forecasted by NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND so until the storm clouds clear and the Italian ruling coalition begins to initiate some of its campaign proposals I treat everything in Europe as a trade and not an investment. Even the talking heads are waking up to the potential financial damage that bank balance sheets loaded with ZERO RISK-WEIGHTED sovereign bonds can cause a healthy bank’s bloated balance sheet.
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Tags:Angela Merkel, balance sheet unwind, ECB, Euro, Eurobond, Fed, Germany, Italy, Mario Draghi
Posted in Debt Market, ECB, Europe, Fed, Germany, Italy | 9 Comments »
May 28, 2018
On Friday, Rick Santelli and I discussed the situation in Europe, especially the FRAGILE situation in Italy. An important metric that needs to be watched is the huge amount of sovereign debt that is “comfortably” sitting on the Italian banks’ balance sheets. Under BIS rules (and other global financial regulations) sovereign debt carries a ZERO RISK WEIGHTING, meaning that commercial banks can hold sovereign bonds and hold no reserves against such an asset class.The Italian banks have been the repository of their sovereign bonds, which makes them vulnerable to a rise in BTP yields as the price drops due to the political concerns involving the inability of FIVE STAR/LEGA to come to an agreement on an acceptable cabinet.
(Click on the image to watch me and Rick discuss the Italian situation)
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Tags:Debt, ECB, Italy, Mario Draghi
Posted in CNBC, ECB, Italy | 9 Comments »
May 24, 2018
The plot thickens as the media is filled with one leak after another in regards to tariffs or threats to embark on a road to perfidy by invoking section 232 of the 1962 Trade Act: Using the broad cover of national security to justify increased import duties on autos. [In a hat tip to A. Limey] It is time to acknowledge that the “brain” of President Trump’s trade team is Robert Lighthizer.
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Tags:BOJ, deflation, ECB, Fed, Gold, real yields, Robert Lighthizer, Stanley Druckenmiller, trade, Trump Administration
Posted in Debt Market, Gold, trade, United States | 12 Comments »
May 22, 2018
We’ve been discussing the problems in the Italian debt market at NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND for many years but with the Five Star/Lega coalition coming into government many of the issues that were once theoretical are now an increasing possibility. The Five Star group is openly proposing a debt restructuring for Italy in the hopes of spurring growth and improving the Italian unemployment situation. Economic growth in Italy has lagged the developed world economies and none more so then its neighbor, Germany.
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Tags:ECB, EU, France, Germany, Italy, Mario Draghi, negative interest rates, ZIRP
Posted in Debt Market, ECB, France, Germany, Italy | 16 Comments »
May 14, 2018
Everything in global financial crisis emanates from too much debt being unable to be serviced. The current situation in Argentina is that the state and private sector borrowers won’t be able to pay the INTEREST on its dollar-based loans as the PESO weakens. It takes more domestic currency to purchase the needed dollars to pay creditors, resulting in a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP that brings the economy to a crawl as all the economic actors have to find ways to pay the interest costs or go bankrupt. The Argentinian government won’t go bankrupt. But it will force a debt restructuring if its borrowing costs move higher (yet another burden for a debt-plagued economy).
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Tags:ECB, EU, Italy, Mario Draghi
Posted in ECB, Europe, Italy | 15 Comments »
May 6, 2018
It is far too early in the situation circling the emerging market debt to make a prognosis. The financial media is filled with stories about the rising U.S. dollar coupled with a FEDERAL RESERVE that is rising short-term rates while simultaneously enacting quantitative tightening (QT). This is certainly having an effect upon global liquidity but at this point I would caution about the CONTAGION and fallout from this process, especially as the ECB and BOJ still are adding liquidity while standing ready to increase their QE if economic growth begins to falter. My phone and internet haven been inundated with questions about the Argentinian central bank raising short term rates to 40 percent. The Argentinians are in the middle of a reform process that is causing major disruptions in their economy, in addition to a severe drought that is having a major impact on the economy, especially for one relying on the agricultural sector.
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Tags:Argentina, BOJ, D-mark, ECB, Fed, French franc, Trichet
Posted in Argentina, Currency | 14 Comments »
April 29, 2018
As T.S. Eliot warned in The Wasteland, April is the cruelest month, as the thaw of winter gives way to hope as the world returns to rejuvenation. April has delivered the first quarter corporate results and it is no exaggeration to state that revenue and earnings have exceeded expectations. However, the equity market results have failed to respond to the robust numbers as the SPOOS have gained a mere 1.25% and remain unchanged on the year. The NASDAQ 100 has been a much better performer as the TECH sector continues to cruise.
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Tags:ECB, Euro, Fed, Mario Draghi, NASDAQ, SNB, SPS, Thomas Jordan, U.S. Dollar
Posted in Currency, Debt Market, ECB, Fed, Germany, SNB, Switzerland | 15 Comments »
April 25, 2018
In building on the discussions in Tuesday’s POST it is important to note that the debt discussion that has taken place in Notes From Underground is gaining traction as an important piece of the financial narrative. The failure of the SPOOS, NASDAQ, and DOW to gain traction with the robust earning releases is forcing the perplexed to confront the impact and collateral damage from Ben Bernanke’s Portfolio Balance Channel, also known as QE or large-scale asset purchases.
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Tags:AMLO, BOJ, Dow, ECB, Euro, Gold, gold/euro, Kuroda, Mario Draghi, Mexico, NASDAQ, Peso, SPS, U.S. 10-Year Note, U.S. Dollar, Yuan
Posted in BoJ, Currency, Debt Market, ECB | 8 Comments »
April 17, 2018
The market has several themes it is trying to digest, which made Tuesday’s price action interesting. Reported earnings have been as strong as whispered and with the Syrian bombing over the weekend, the markets had time to analyze the outcome (and as usual it was treated as a minimal event with no proliferation).
On Sunday night there was an immediate rally as the SPOOS gained 0.5 percent on the open. Strong earnings kept the rally in gear but what’s interesting that the financials failed to hold their initial rallies. This is important because most analysts were predicting significant growth in bank ROES, especially for the large Wall Street banks. Goldman’s FICC revenue increased by more than 20 percent as trading volatility provided an opportunity for one of the few remaining large prop shops remaining on the Street. The Goldman rallied fizzled and finished 2 percent down on the day.
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Tags:bank earnings, ECB, euro/chf, Fed, Gold, Robert Kaplan, silver, SPS, Swiss Franc, U.S. Dollar, U.S. yield curves
Posted in Uncategorized | 17 Comments »
