There were myriad central bank meetings last week as the FED, ECB, BOE, SNB, Bank of Mexico and others rendezvoused. With the exception of the Fed, all maintained their current policies. (The U.S. FED raised rates, which was 99% baked in.) The ECB was as dovish (as expected) and President Draghi has a few new issues to confront as Italian elections are scheduled for March 4, 2018. The Italian situation is already impacting sovereign bonds as the Italian 10-year yield rose against the German and French equivalents. BUT I FULLY EXPECT FOR THE ECB TO BREAK THE CAPITAL KEY RULES BY PURCHASING MORE ITALIAN DEBT THAN ALLOWED. POLITICS WILL BE DRAGHI’S MAIN CONCERN.
Posts Tagged ‘stocks’
Notes From Underground: Did I Miss Anything?
December 17, 2017Notes From Underground: The Great Helmsman Held the Good Ship QE Steady
July 17, 2013FED Chairman Ben Bernanke steered a steady course as he was questioned by the House of Representatives today. The release of the chairman’s prepared testimony 90 minutes early was a benefit as the markets had time to actually read the substance of the address and not just react to the ALGO-DRIVEN HEADLINES. Even with the extra time to read the release some talking heads still failed to understand the chairman’s efforts to remain balanced. I do agree with Mohamed El-Erian that the tone of the prepared statement was “dovish” and Bernanke wanted to appear very concerned about the lack of growth in the jobs market.
Notes From Underground: Let The Markets Reveal Their Resolutions
January 2, 2012The “MARKET” will resolve to test the GRIT of traders and investors as the mysteries of politics and economics collide to make the daily lives of traders difficult, to say the least. In 2011, the markets left traders and various investors sleeping like babies as we were relegated to getting up every hour to cry. We must remember that the market’s “JOB” is to cause as much heartache and pain to as many people as possible as money seeks to attain a positive return Last year the market was in its full glory as it caused some of the world’s foremost global macro investors to be humbled in a capacity not seen since the credit market debacle of 1994-95. This year seems to be of a similar ilk as the travails of the EUROPEAN UNION will continue to weigh upon the flows of global capital.
Notes From Underground: They Loaded 275 Billion Pounds and What Did They Get?
October 6, 2011(Another day older and deeper in debt.)
No surprises from the ECB as they held rates at 1.5% as Trichet ended his reign at the helm of European banking by paying homage to the FONZ: Never admit that you were wrong. The ECB did announce that it was extending its policy of providing liquidity to EUROZONE banks at extremely low rates for a period of 12 and 13 months in an effort to prevent any immediate bank run. Also, the ECB announced that it would buy up to 40 billion euro of covered bonds, but that should not be a big deal for covered bonds are the best collateral so many banks will probably not be running for funding posting the highest rated debt.
Notes From Underground: The Use of Swap Lines … HMMMM
September 15, 2011After Secretary Geithner told the CNBC audience that he was going to Poland as an observer of the ECOFIN meeting on Friday, it seems he changed his mind. U.S. policymakers have woken up to the fact that the European credit crisis is the real deal and risks sending the entire global financial system into a period vicious cycle of asset liquidation. The Obama administration has come to realize that a severe credit crisis can certainly undermine the JOBS PROGRAM AND ANY OTHER STIMULUS PROGRAMS IN THE WORKS. If the world frets of a U.S. renewed recession, then imagine the global trepidation of a simultaneous credit crunch in Europe. A EUROPEAN MELTDOWN WOULD BRING THE U.S. TO INCREASED UNEMPLOYMENT AND A CERTAIN DEFEAT FOR THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.
Notes From Underground: risk on risk off … and so it goes; and so it goes
June 3, 2010We were back in form today as the risk on profile was back on. The EUR/YEN was well-bid as risk was the theme, but we want to watch the YEN to see if the correlation of YEN as the risk barometer is beginning to breakdown with the present political developements in Tokyo taking its toll. The S&PS Wednesday put on a significant rally to solidify the risk on profile.