It wasn’t the basis for rational analysis, it was a very public admission of bias and error. We don’t know why inflation ultimately will do what we believe it will, they said, we just believe that it will so you should, too. It sounds ludicrous, but it is actually very much in keeping with standard Economics. The puppet show. What [...]
Something just doesn’t smell right. As I’ve pointed out over the past few weeks, bill yields have been falling. The front, the 4-week instrument, has seen its equivalent rate plummet. This is consistent with deep liquidity problems as well as looming rate cuts (the two do go hand-in-hand). Over the past two session, including today, however, bill yields have spiked. [...]
One of the very few central pillars supporting the hopes for a second half rebound was China’s “stimulus.” Since we’ve been conditioned to just accept whatever a central bank does as equal to it, throughout the last thirteen months since the first RRR cut was initiated that one as well as the four which followed (five for smaller and medium [...]
It comes down to a choice, really: find an alternative to Economics (capital “E”), or give Economics an alternative. The former may be necessary over time, a luxury we don’t really have. The latter, however, requires a sufficient number of open-minded participants already inside the intellectual fortress. Enough of a critical mass who realize despite all the R* and term [...]
Whether or not a full-scale recession shows up in the US is an open question. There’s less of one in US industry. The “manufacturing recession” we last saw of Euro$ #3 is becoming clearer as a repeat property in Euro$ #4. According to the Federal Reserve, May was a relatively good month for industry – total output didn’t decline from [...]
Much of the original thesis on economic decoupling surrounded myths of what were believed invulnerable economies. Emerging markets might see some slowing during 2008, but they weren’t supposed to drop off. China was right at the top of everyone’s list, the unstoppable force then transforming the world’s political as well as economic order. In the early months of the Global [...]
Retail Sales rose just 3.46% year-over-year (unadjusted) in May 2019. The estimate for April was revised substantially higher, now suggesting growth of 5.6%. Altogether, however, consumer spending continues to be unusually weak. How unusual? The 6-month average, a better gauge of growth conditions given the noisy nature of the series, is now below 3% for the first time since late [...]
Once you realize negative yielding sovereign bonds aren't investments, they are balance sheet tools for global banks, things start to fall into place. I had the honor to chat with the fellas at Grant's Interest Rate Observer. In a world where stocks are the media kings it's good every once in a while to talk to people who know better. [...]
Rate cuts will be insurance against whatever “trade wars” will throw at the global economy. That’s the current line from monetary officials in the US, anyway. The real question to ask is, how would they know? Starting with trade wars. Is that really what’s behind all this? The evolution of the curves told you everything you need to know, and [...]
There are those which are so very clear in their disingenuousness – to the point of overdoing it and becoming obviously absurd. In the increasingly desperate rush to downplay the headlong race to rate cuts, this one’s up there: Eurodollar futures traders, having decided that the Federal Reserve is likely to cut the fed funds target range at least twice [...]
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