Posts Tagged ‘monetary policy’
June 26, 2022
To my readers —
My apologies for the long hiatus, but in addition to my sojourn to the East Coast, my eyesight has been suboptimal. That said, my mind has been ruminating on what has been a very active first half of the year between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Fed’s aggressive path — in addition to other central banks exiting a stimulative framework. While I may not be writing at the moment, I’ve taken the time to record a couple of Financial Repression Authority podcasts. The first was with Spanish economist Daniel Lacalle. As always, I look forward to your questions, comments and concerns as we head into the second half of what’s already turning into a tumultuous 2022.
Tags:central banks, Federal Reserve, monetary policy, Podcast
Posted in Podcast | 21 Comments »
December 29, 2019
As we approach 2020, it seems as though the financial world is unconcerned about the dramatic increase in DEBT. Yes, the airwaves are alive with news of the extremely low level of mortgage delinquencies but fail to discuss the growing delinquency of 90-day auto loans and the $1.5 trillion pile of student loan debt, an albatross for college graduates over the 20 years. Corporate debt has increased by the magic of financial engineering in which share buybacks and dividend increases are greased with the benevolence of central banks caught in a trap of their design.
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Tags:Debt, European Union, Federal Reserve, Gold, monetary policy, Nordstream 2 Pipeline, Russia, tariffs, U.S., U.S. Dollar, U.S. yield curves
Posted in Currency, Debt Market, Fed, Gold, United States | 29 Comments »
December 19, 2017
The long-end of the U.S. Treasury curve steepened Monday and Tuesday as bond futures did some technical damage, closing under the 200-day moving average. It joined the 2-, 5- and 10-year Treasuries, which have been below the important technical level since September. U.S.Treasury yields rose as the ECB failed to lift European sovereigns. The BUNDS, FRENCH OATS and Italian BTPs all saw significant increases in their yields. BUT I ADVISE PATIENCE AND CAUTION BECAUSE THE ECB IS SUPPOSEDLY SET TO FINISH ITS MONTHLY PURCHASES BY DECEMBER 21. As of the close of last Friday the ECB had bought ONLY 33 billion of assets leaving it 27 billion EUROS of its QE quota. It has two days in which to push yields lower and we don’t know how much they have purchased over the past two days.
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Tags:Bill White, ECB, monetary policy, sovereign debt
Posted in Central Banks, Debt Market | 8 Comments »
November 5, 2017
Three central bank meetings, the selection of a new Fed chair, the release of a major new tax policy and the unemployment report provided the markets with great potential for increased volatility. Instead the markets yawned and carried equities to new all-time highs.The central bank decisions went as expected; the unemployment was a bit weaker than projected but the weather problems from the hurricanes have probably not been fully tallied.
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Tags:Fed, Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell, monetary policy, QE, Saudi Arabia, Sunni
Posted in Fed | 8 Comments »
June 11, 2015
Last Wednesday, ECB President Mario Draghi warned the traders and investors in sovereign debt and other credit markets that great volatility would be the cornerstone of activity and the market would have to learn to deal with it. The problem with this scenario is, I believe, that the ECB is the progenitor of most of the violent price movement. Remember, the ECB QE program means that the Frankfurt bank has a great deal of fire power to move markets–to the tune of 60 billion euros ($72 billion) a month, which was close to what the FED was purchasing at the height of its QE program. Traders and investors have no heads-up as to when the ECB will be buying and therefore subject to being stopped out of trades at any time.
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Tags:Axel Weber, Bunds, central bank, ECB, Fed, Janet Yellen, liftoff, Mario Draghi, monetary policy, QE, volatility
Posted in ECB, Fed | 15 Comments »