For quite some time now I have been writing (constantly) about “something” going in “dollar” markets and funding markets all over the world. Chinese markets related to “dollars” have been the most prominent in their disorder, but there is a degree of causation that runs from eurodollars to China and perhaps back again. In other words, Chinese illiquidity is not [...]
It is never a good thing when official sources either named or unnamed are quoted in the media as denying bailout discussions. For any bank such rumors and denials are harmful because, obviously, they are a reflection of common perception. Furthermore, most people know all-too-well the true nature of any denials, thus reinforcing only that much more the troubling perceptions [...]
The end of the week finds the initial release of “flash” PMI readings across much of the world. In what will be surprising only to economists and policymakers, the commonality is “slowing.” It is never good to find universal deceleration, of course, but especially so in the second half of 2016. To begin with, whatever rebound there was in the [...]
As noted earlier today, the bond market is not truly a mystery or middle. In very simple terms that even Alan Greenspan might be able to understand, rising inflation and economic opportunity are reflected in higher interest rates and a steeper yield curve; full stop. The bond market, however, does not possess a crystal ball and thus must rely on [...]
Alan Greenspan is confused - again. The man who admitted to the world a decade ago he didn’t know much if anything about interest rates is now trying to change that reputation by suggesting yet again interest rates are set to rise. In testimony before Congress in February 2005, the then-Chairman of the Federal Reserve actually said: For the moment, [...]
The pace of new home sales fell again in August according to the National Association of Realtors. On a seasonally-adjusted annual basis, the rate of resales registered 5.33 million compared to 5.38 million in July and 5.29 million in August 2015. The growth rate on sales has clearly slowed, and the NAR itself finds that curious in light of supposed [...]
With both the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve today undertaking policy considerations at the same time, it is useful to highlight the similarities of conditions if not exactly in time. As I wrote this morning, what the Fed is attempting now is very nearly the same as what the Bank of Japan did ten years ago. In the middle [...]
There is absolutely no need whatsoever to pay any attention to what Janet Yellen says. There is even less call for parsing the increasingly ridiculous FOMC statement, particularly with regard to inflation where it will continue to suggest “professional forecasters” are the only way (left) to measure monetary policy effectiveness. Instead, four times a year the FOMC meeting coincides with [...]
What good is a target or even an emphatic commitment to it if you have already proven you can’t achieve it? So far the only “market” that really counts isn’t buying the new promises, either. We’ll see if that is just a knee-jerk reaction or if it re-ignites the contrary “dollar” trend that had so plagued Abenomics going back to [...]
On July 14, 2006, the Bank of Japan raised its benchmark overnight rate off zero for the first time since introducing the world to ZIRP in 1999. In doing so, the BoJ noted that the Japanese economy in its view continued to “expand moderately” and that risks inside the economy were “balanced.” The central bank also sought to reassure, further [...]
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