Currencies

Germany, Maybe Europe: No Signs Of The Bottom

By |2020-01-16T18:53:16-05:00January 16th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

For anyone thinking the global economy is turning around, it’s not the kind of thing you want to hear. Germany has been Ground Zero for this globally synchronized downturn. That’s where it began, meaning first showed up, all the way back at the start of 2018. Ever since, the German economy has been pulling Europe down into the economic abyss [...]

Why So Much Fuss Over SOFR?

By |2020-01-16T17:56:28-05:00January 16th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

More than two years into the SOFR regime, it’s not really going all that well. Adoption remains, shall we say, questionable and uncertain even though, everyone says, LIBOR is on its way out and the Secured Overnight Financing Rate is the future. Jumbled together by the Fed’s New York branch, the latter is, we are told, superior in every conceivable [...]

Inflation, But Only At The Morgue

By |2020-01-15T19:39:04-05:00January 15th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Why is everyone so angry? How can socialism possibly be on such a rise, particularly among younger people around the world? Why are Americans suddenly dying off? According to one study, two-thirds of millennials are convinced they are doing worse when compared to their parents’ generation. Sixty-two percent say they are living paycheck to paycheck, with no savings and no [...]

Why 2014? Less (Big) Banks, Fewer ‘Dollars’, No Growth

By |2020-01-15T17:22:55-05:00January 15th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

One of the biggest reasons why I always find the regulations explanation(s) so lacking is because of what is the biggest part of the scientific process. The excuses for problems in global liquidity and the dollar-based banking system in general have run the gamut of regulatory exercises. Who can forget, for one example, 2a7? That was 2016’s preferred explanation for [...]

De-dollarization By Default Is Not What You Might Think

By |2020-01-15T10:02:26-05:00January 14th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Last month, a group of central bank governors from across the South Pacific region gathered in Australia to move forward the idea of a KYC utility. If you haven’t heard of KYC, or know your customer, it is a growing legal requirement that is being, and has been, imposed on banks all over the world. Spurred by anti-money laundering efforts [...]

Clarida Picks Up Some Data

By |2020-01-14T16:22:40-05:00January 14th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

I should know better than to make declarative all-or-none statements like this. I said there isn’t any data which comports with the idea of a global turnaround, this shakeup in sentiment which since early September has gone right from one extreme to the other. Recession fears predominated in summer only to be (rather easily) replaced by near euphoria (again). Narrative [...]

Not Abating, Not By A Longshot

By |2020-01-13T18:57:41-05:00January 13th, 2020|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Since I advertised the release last week, here’s Mexico’s update to Industrial Production in November 2019. The level of production was estimated to have fallen by 1.8% from November 2018. It was up marginally on a seasonally-adjusted basis from its low in October. That doesn’t sound like much, -1.8%, but apart from recent months this would’ve been the third worst [...]

Very Rough Shape, And That’s With The Payroll Data We Have Now

By |2020-01-11T14:08:31-05:00January 11th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has begun the process of updating its annual benchmarks. Actually, the process began last year and what’s happening now is that the government is releasing its findings to the public. Up first is the Household Survey, the less-watched, more volatile measure which comes at employment from the other direction. As the name implies, the [...]

Global Headwinds and Disinflationary Pressures

By |2020-01-09T19:37:31-05:00January 9th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

I’m going to go back to Mexico for the third day in a row. First it was imports (meaning Mexico’s exports) then automobile manufacturing and now Industrial Production. I’ll probably come back to this tomorrow when INEGI updates that last number for November 2019. For now, through October will do just fine, especially in light of where automobile production is [...]

The Word Is: Prolongada

By |2020-01-08T18:51:43-05:00January 8th, 2020|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

You don’t have to tell Mexico the bad news about how US auto sales ended 2019. They already know; in fact, knew ahead of time. Production workers who should be busy building more and more new cars for sale outside of Mexico, particularly for prospective American owners, must instead be worried if they’ll still have a job if things go [...]

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