This is the perfect time to discuss the effects of zero interest rates as it has been 20 years since the Bank of Japan embarked upon the path of crushing interest rates in an effort to jump-start inflation in Japan. This is very important as we enter into the discussions about the potential for negative interest rates in the U.S. while also entertaining the idea that the U.S.’s growing debt pile and deficit have no consequence as long as the government borrows in its own currency and optimizes its printing press.
Posts Tagged ‘gold/yen’
Notes From Underground: Happy Anniversary Twentieth ZIRPiversary, BOJ!
February 12, 2019Notes From Underground: Just Another Day So Let’s Review
February 2, 2016First, tomorrow morning Goldman’s Lloyd Blankfein will be rolled out on CNBC to share his wisdom about the state of global markets. Maybe he will remind investors that Goldman and other banks are doing GOD’S WORK. I will write what I wrote recently: Noah and the flood were also GOD’s work so it is important for the world’s banks to signal which part of GOD’s work in which they are involved. The European bank stocks are under stress again. Deutsche Bank and many other EU money center banks continue to make new lows every day. What are investors fleeing from? Probably the huge amount of NON-PERFORMING LOANS that exist on bank balance sheet and will have to be met with NEW CAPITAL to meet the more stringent regulatory requirements from the European oversight authority, as well as increased capital requirements under Basel III. There is a great effort to initiate a FDIC-type of deposit insurance program for all of Europe–a single agency–but the Germans will not allow their CREDIT CARD TO BE USED UNTIL THE PRESENT BALANCE SHEETS OF ALL THE FINANCIALLY STRESSED INSTITUTIONS ARE PURGED OF INSOLVENT, ZOMBIE TYPE LOANS. The lack of any banking guarantee is creating an underlying tension throughout the European financial system and without a robust corporate bond market there is nothing to disintermediate the financial power of the banks. The ECB is vacuuming up all the high quality collateral so finding adequate borrowing instruments to facilitate lending is adding to the drag on the EU economy.
Notes From Underground: Has the Fed Potentially Created a Trap For Itself??? (Maybe)
May 13, 2014As the talk turns to concern about inflation in the U.S. and possibly the U.K., we must ask ourselves a question that will be our focus for at least the next six months.
Notes From Underground: Pritchard Raises An Important Issue– Is China Exporting Deflation?
April 24, 2014The equity markets were gaga over the news from Apple and Facebook and trying to push through March’s highs when Twitter was busy raising the issue about a possible Russian incursion into Eastern Ukraine. The “breaking news” failed to gather strength and the markets were soon back into positive territory. Just as the equity markets were absorbing the Russian rumors, the precious metals were making recent lows on the back of stock market strength and better economic news from the U.S. For all you technical-oriented market watchers, the gold and silver both put in outside reversal higher days so we will watch to see if there is any follow through in the metals market tomorrow.
Notes From Underground: Why All the Noise From Friday’s Unemployment Data?
April 6, 2014Friday’s jobs data was almost as the pundits had predicted. Why was there so much activity when the nonfarm payrolls and average hourly earnings and length of work week were basically the right on the consensus predictions? Yes, I’m aware that the “whisper number” was 250,000-plus due to the removal of harsh weather conditions. However, if that was the case, the dollar should have weakened and the short-end of the U.S. yield curve OUGHT to have outperformed the long end resulting in a STEEPENING of the 2/10 (none of which occurred). The 2/10 curve actually flattened as the U.S. stock markets began selling off, a drop initiated by the Nasdaq 100’s key momentum stocks. The weekly charts of the S&P and the Nasdaq took different turns as the SPOOs closed higher on the week and the Nasdaq closed lower, an indication of some reallocation from the momentum-oriented stocks to the more solid large-cap, earnings-based equities.
Notes From Underground: Yesterday Don’t Matter If It’s Gone
March 1, 2012Wow! Wednesday’s market reaction to words not said was extraordinary. The LTRO went very much as expected and the selloff in the EURO was in step, but the reaction of the GOLD and SILVER to unspoken words was quite unusual. Many questions were raised as to the market reaction. The GOLD sell off is rational if the premier haven was elevated simply on the belief of further easing by the FED.