Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy

Bill Issuance Has Absolutely Surged, So Why *Haven’t* Yields, Reflation, And Other Good Things?

By |2021-11-01T19:44:36-04:00November 1st, 2021|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen hasn’t just been busy hawking cash management bills, her department has also been filling back up with the usual stuff, too. Regular T-bills. Going back to October 14, at the same time the CMB’s have been revived, so, too, have the 4-week and 13-week (3-month). Not the 8-week, though.Of the first, it’s been a real tsunami [...]

Decoupling From ‘Inflation’ Maybe

By |2021-11-01T18:25:12-04:00November 1st, 2021|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

There is no “decoupling”, at least there hasn’t been yet. Why would this time end up any different? The history of the term has itself changed over time, but by doing so has offered further proof this is a fact of global economic life in the post-August 2007 eurodollar era. It always goes like this: globally synchronized reflation (not growth); [...]

Eurodollar University’s Making Sense; Episode 136, Part 3: Never Getting Inflation Right And The (money) Reasons Behind The Continuous Errors

By |2021-10-29T20:13:34-04:00October 29th, 2021|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

136.3 1970s Inflation Then, But Not Now Because... ———Ep 136.3 Summary———A review of transcripts and recordings from the 1970s reveals that monetary and political authorities were unable to identify the source of inflation (international liquidity creation). The authorities didn't understand money in the 1970s, and they still don't. ———Sponsor———Macropiece Theater with Alistair Cooke (i.e. Emil Kalinowski) reading the latest essays, blog [...]

Inflation History Everyone Should Know (but only certain people do)

By |2021-10-29T20:09:48-04:00October 29th, 2021|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Supply shock versus inflation. There’s a huge difference, both in terms of what causes each and how they play out. As discussed in great detail here, it is the bond market not central bankers which repeatedly has proved it can sort out this enormously consequential distinction. Bonds know if there is an overflow of money, they need to pay attention [...]

As Predictable Transitory ‘Inflation’, Predictably The Fed’s Taper Is (truly) Something Else

By |2021-10-29T17:29:44-04:00October 29th, 2021|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

In a very real sense, neither the current rate of PCE Deflator “inflation” nor any more expected to be added by the reported LABOR SHORTAGE!!! are what’s pushing the Federal Reserve toward its next taper error. The Fed doesn’t do money, so that’s not an option for them by which to set policy parameters. All that’s left, then, is “expectations.”Jay [...]

GDP Red Flag

By |2021-10-28T20:15:57-04:00October 28th, 2021|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

There were no surprises in today’s US GDP data. As expected, output sharply decelerated, modestly missing much-reduced expectations. The continuously compounded annual rate of change for Q3 2021 compared to Q2 was the tiniest bit less than 2% (1.99591%) given most recent expectations had been closer to 3%. It was only two months ago, mid-August, when the Blue Chip consensus [...]

Eurodollar University’s Making Sense; Episode 136, Part 2: The Yield Curve Blasts Cold Water All Over The ‘Red Hot’ Economy

By |2021-10-28T12:48:57-04:00October 28th, 2021|Alhambra Research, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets, Stocks|

136.2 Sorry, US Treasury Yield Curve Delivers Bad News———Ep 136.2 Summary———The US Treasury yield curve IS NOT inverted and, therefore, is not signaling a recession warning. But IT IS warning that the Federal Reserve's reasoning to "taper" its quantitative easing program (i.e. economic recovery/health) is unfounded. We saw this in 2018. And 2014. And 2005. ———Sponsor———Macropiece Theater with Alistair Cooke [...]

Short Run TIPS, LT Flat, Basically Awful Real(ity)

By |2021-10-27T20:33:22-04:00October 27th, 2021|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Over the past week and a half, Treasury has rolled out the CMB’s (cash management bills; like Treasury bills, special issues not otherwise part of the regular debt rotation) one after another: $60 billion 40-day on the 19th; $60 billion 27-day on the 20th; and $40 billion 48-day just yesterday. Treasury also snuck $60 billion of 39-day CMB’s into the [...]

The Enormously Important Reasons To Revisit The Revisions Already Several Times Revisited

By |2021-10-27T18:34:48-04:00October 27th, 2021|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary commitment. I never set out nor imagined that a quarter century after embarking on what I thought would be a career managing portfolios, researching markets, and picking investments, I’d instead have to spend a good amount of my time in the future taking apart how raw economic data is collected, tabulated, and then disseminated. Yet [...]

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