Posts Tagged ‘Saudi Arabia’
April 5, 2020
At this time of great chaos in the world I am going to take a 10 day hiatus to sit back and reflect as it is the time of Passover and Easter. These holidays will take on special significance this year as the Covid-19 impacts our plans.
So as I retrench I put forward the words of the Prophet Micah for something to contemplate: “To Act Justly, and to LOVE MERCY and to walk HUMBLY with YOUR GOD.” Wishing all my readers a meaningful period of the holidays before us. I may post a podcast I recorded this morning with Anthony Crudele but that will be it, although I will respond to all questions in an effort to stay alert to critical issues in a rapidly changing global environment. Now to the issues before us.
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Tags:bond market, Christine Lagarde, Euro, Eurobond, European Union, Fed, Jerome Powell, oil, Russia, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Dollar
Posted in Central Banks, Currency, Debt Market, Fed, Oil | 20 Comments »
March 19, 2020
While the rate cutters were busy dumping on ECB President Christine Lagarde for not cutting and only announcing an increase in bond purchases I opined that Lagarde was getting more by doing less. Lagarde did not go down the Draghi route and lock up with Jens Weidmann and the Fiscal Austerians in the Hanseatic League. The ECB president played for a bigger prize and tonight she delivered with an announced 750 billion euro bond buying program of both public and private issues.
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Tags:Christine Lagarde, ECB, Fed, oil, Russia, Saudi Arabia, swap lines, U.S. Dollar
Posted in Currency, ECB, Fed, Oil | 13 Comments »
March 8, 2020
Well things are on the bubble as the Russians and Saudis had a “falling out” as lovers often because the OPEC talks resulted in an ostensible all-out war to break oil prices. The consensus loser will be the U.S. oil patch as the FRACKERS are carrying huge amounts of debt, which will not be paid while prices sharply decline.
There will be talks about a credit crisis as banks and other oil creditors will have to absorb losses and probably restrict lending to other borrowers. Those with private equity investments in the Bakken, Permian and others will be taking inventory on how battered their portfolios will be. The wily Putin will finally have his way as the sanctimonious Americans will have to rescind the ill-devised/ill-advised SANCTIONS that have had little impact.
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Tags:asset purchases, Christine Lagarde, crude oil, ECB, Eric Rosengren, Fed, Opec, Russia, Saudi Arabia, U.S. Dollar
Posted in ECB, Fed, Oil, Opec | 27 Comments »
September 15, 2019
The inmates are running the asylum as policy makers are busy putting out old prairie fires. The European Central Bank’s move on Thursday was a final curtain call for President Draghi as he sought to cement his legacy as the man that would do whatever it takes to “preserve the Euro” and would have no taboos in his efforts. But it seems like the opposition to both the rate cut and new QE was far greater than the magician of Frankfurt let on at his final obfuscation. It is amazing how the dissidents find their voice the day after. Oh well, so it goes in the world of consensus-driven outcomes.
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Tags:central banks, copper, crude oil, ECB, Fed, fiscal stimulus, Gold, Mario Draghi, precious metals, Saudi Arabia
Posted in Oil, Saudi Arabia | 13 Comments »
November 29, 2018
The Twitterverse is atwitter with news bits about the coming meeting this Friday and Saturday. There are rumors that Putin and Trump were going to meet but now the get-together is off. The once-scorned Peter Navarro is to be at the Xi/Trump summit after all. An Argentinian Judge has suggested that Saudi Crown Prince MBS may be arrested for the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. There will be no agreement on free trade in the G-20 communique, especially as Trump has renewed threats against German auto firms with a 25 percent tariff on its exports to the United States. When Donald Trump comes to town it truly portends a three-ring circus.
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Tags:Angela Merkel, China, crude oil, Europe, G-20, Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Xi Jinping
Posted in G-20, Oil | 9 Comments »
May 8, 2018
*NOTE: THERE IS NO POLITICAL VIEW IN THIS BLOG (AND SPECIFICALLY IN THIS POST) I ascribe to the wisdom of Deng Xiaoping. To paraphrase: Quality analysis doesn’t care if the “cat is black or white,” only if it catches mice.
Come on Wall Street, don’t be slow
Why man, this is war a-go-go
There’s plenty good money to be made
By supplying the army with the tools of its trade
But just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb
[Fill in the target of choice]
— Country Joe, “I Feel Like I’M Fixin’ to Die Rag”
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Tags:Iran, JCPOA, oil, Putin, Russia, Saudi Arabia
Posted in Russia, Saudi Arabia, United States | 12 Comments »
November 6, 2017
As reported over the weekend, New York Fed President William Dudley is turning in his keys to the printing press and leaving the Fed in mid-2018 to spend more time with his family (Goldman Sachs). In a speech delivered to the Economic Club of New York, the reigning king of the New York Fed praised the central bank for its effort to prevent a collapse of the global financial system. He laid blame for the crisis on all the familiar miscreants but mostly stressed that “the safeguards put in place in response to the crisis are fully appreciated and respected.” President Dudley maintains that the global financial crisis was a result of lacking the tools to regulate the entire financial system and sums up his analysis: “We had woefully inadequate regulatory regime in place,and while it is much better now, there is still work to do.”
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Tags:AUD/NZD, Bill Dudley, ECB, Euro, Gold, Mario Draghi, New York Fed, oil, RBA, Saudi Arabia, silver
Posted in Currency, Fed, RBA, Saudi Arabia | 7 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 5, 2017
Many times I have written that you don’t buy gold/silver on the outbreak of war but merely trade it. Over the last 35 years any GOLD rally on the outbreak of any world conflicts has been a mere short-term trade. Sometimes situations represent potential paradigm shifts which unfold over time. Yesterday’s announcement by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain to sever ties with Qatar may be representative of a significant change in the fabric of Mid-East relations. I stress MAYBE because certain events will have to follow develop signal a seismic shift. THE QUESTION TO CONSIDER: WHY THE SUNNI COALITION CHOSE THIS TIME TO DENOUNCE QATAR?
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Tags:Middle East, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
Posted in Middle East | 11 Comments »
January 14, 2016
Jim Bullard? Now There Is An Unsavory Chap
Today was not like the other days for the break in the equity markets came early. As all the global markets were in sell mode St. Louis Fed President James Bullard hit the airwaves with thoughts about being wrong in his inflation projections. It appears that the selloff in crude oil is providing the Fed hawk with concerns that the SUMMARY of ECONOMIC PROJECTIONS may be softer than the December FOMC meeting revealed. Bullard sounded as if he would not be in favor of the Fed raising rates because of the inflation rate turning away from the spurious 2 percent mandate. The unsavoriness of Bullard’s comment is not that he fears a downturn in inflation, and maybe lower growth, but that Bullard seemed to find his DOVISH posture as the U.S. markets were heading toward the August lows. Bullard in unsavory because he called out CNBC’s Jim Cramer for “cheerleading for low rates twenty-four hours a day.”
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Tags:BOE, DAX, Dow, Fed, inflation, James Bullard, Mark Carney, NASDAQ, Nikkei, Saudi Arabia, SPS, U.S. 2/10 curve
Posted in Equity, Fed, Uncategorized | 15 Comments »