Posts Tagged ‘unemployment data’

Notes From Underground: Narcissism Has Consequences

October 1, 2020

On Friday, there’s a new dose of unemployment data. While these blog posts have been infrequent, my view remains the same: The Federal Open Market Committee may be keen on promoting inflation while returning to the pre-Covid employment levels, but no amount of robust jobs growth will move the FEDERAL RESERVE off its current policy of lower for longer.

In regards to the year-end data, I want to know: If unemployment is below 9% while the annualized inflation levels were to rise to 6%, would the FED raise rates? If your answer is no then you agree that the data outcomes are benign. At this juncture much more concerned with the next phase of fiscal stimulus and the DOLLAR.

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Posted in Currency, Fed, United States | 5 Comments »

Notes From Underground: Laboring to Comprehend Gary Cohn’s CNBC Interview

September 3, 2017

CNBC promoted its interview with Gary Cohn for a couple of days so the head of the White House Economic Council could not have been caught off guard by any questions from the interviewers. Cohn was giving the recent unemployment data a positive spin, but that’s part of his job description. MY PROBLEM WITH COHN’S INTERVIEW WAS HIS PUSH TO CUT CORPORATE TAX RATES AS AN ANSWER TO FLAT WAGE GROWTH. His analysis that lower tax rates equals higher wages is preposterous and reflects the thought process of a Wall Street account executive. In response to David Faber’s query about the tax cut benefiting middle class workers COHN replied: “How does it not benefit the worker?” Cohn answers his own question by building the straw man argument: Any repatriation of foreign profits would boost equity prices as would any cut in domestic corporate taxes. For who owns most of the equity in the world today (another Straw Man by Cohn)? We know the biggest pool of owned equity are the pension funds, especially the public pension funds (fire, police, teachers municipal workers], “… thus we are helping Americans by delivering returns back to them.”

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Posted in CNBC, Currency, United States | 7 Comments »

Notes From Underground: Central bank Poker–Three Checks and, Of Course, No Raises

October 24, 2012

Yesterday, the Bank Of Canada surprised no one as Governor Mark Carney held rates steady at 1%. The BOC statement also maintained last month’s idea that “over time, some modest withdrawal of monetary policy stimulus will likely be required, consistent with achieving the 2% inflation target.” The Canadian dollar rallied on the news as it seemed that the market thought the statement would be more dovish following Carney’s comments of October 15, but instead it was steady as it goes. Today, Governor Carney held a news conference and the headline put out by the news services was “Case For Raising Rates ‘Less Imminent,'” which of course led the programmed headline algos to sell the Canadian dollar because of the “dovish headline.” The press conference was so much more than that and really reiterated the BOC statement and reflected the dilemma that the Carney faces in trying to curb private credit growth in a low interest rate world. Nonetheless, the market currency markets kept the pressure on the LOONIE so a risk-off profile was maintained.

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Posted in Central Banks | 2 Comments »

Notes From Underground: Brazil Shaves Their Rates Unexpectedly

September 1, 2011

First of all, NOTES will be on HIATUS for a well deserved rest from the turmoil of global events and the chaotic impact they have had on markets.

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Posted in Brazil, Currency, unemployment, United States | 8 Comments »