Currencies

Simple Economics and Money Math

By |2022-06-09T20:08:48-04:00June 9th, 2022|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The BLS’s most recent labor market data is, well, troubling. Even the preferred if artificially-smooth Establishment Survey indicates that something has changed since around March. A slowdown at least, leaving more questions than answers (from President Phillips).That as much because of the other employment figures, the Household Survey. April and May, in particular, not just a slowdown but a drop [...]

A Volcker Pan Recession

By |2022-06-08T20:37:01-04:00June 8th, 2022|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The Volcker Myth is simple because there isn’t math for it just voodoo economics (to borrow George HW Bush’s phrase). In theory, the FOMC finally realized after more than a decade of currency devastation and its economic, financial, and social consequences, hey, inflation and money. Once Paul Volcker took over in ’79, he acted on the belated realization, seeking to [...]

World Bank Tries Reconciling Rapidly Rising Recession Risk

By |2022-06-07T20:03:45-04:00June 7th, 2022|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

As it now stands, the World Bank isn’t currently forecasting recession sweeping across the globe. Instead, the organization is merely warning this is a growing possibility. Econometric models abhor making big changes to projections within small timeframes, yet the regressions employed here couldn’t be helped this time.Back in January, at the last issue of the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects, [...]

“Inflation” Not Inflation, Through The Eyes of Inventory

By |2022-06-07T18:48:32-04:00June 7th, 2022|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

It isn’t just semantics, nor some trivial, egotistical use of quotation marks. There is an actual and vast difference between inflation and “inflation.” And in the final results, that difference isn’t strictly or even mainly about consumer prices.Who cares, most people wonder. After all, what does it really matter why prices are going up so far? The pain this causes [...]

More On Less Demand

By |2022-06-06T20:15:28-04:00June 6th, 2022|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

Inconvenient timing, to say the least. Auto sales in the US last month were, well, not good. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the government agency responsible for GDP, unit sales of light vehicles tumbled to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 12.68 million in May 2022. That’s the lowest since December, down substantially from a not-too-high 14.50 million [...]

Demand Wasn’t Supposed To Be The Problem

By |2022-06-06T18:05:35-04:00June 6th, 2022|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

They called it an atmospheric river, though I’m not really sure who “they” was nor whether the term is scientific or just media hype. Either way, in early November the Pacific Northwest of the US along with Western Canada was inundated by a, well, river of rainfall. Mudslides, torrential downpours, just a muddy mess across the entire region. At one [...]

Weekly Market Pulse: Risk, Uncertainty & Opportunity

By |2022-06-06T09:24:03-04:00June 6th, 2022|Alhambra Portfolios, Bonds, Commodities, Currencies, Economy, Markets, Stocks|

Dimon says brace for U.S. economic 'hurricane' due to inflation "It's a hurricane," Dimon told a banking conference, adding that the current situation is unprecedented. "Right now, it's kind of sunny, things are doing fine. Everyone thinks the Fed can handle this. That hurricane is right out there down the road coming our way. We just don't know if it's [...]

No Pandemic. Not Rate Hikes. Doesn’t Matter Interest Rates. Just Globally Synchronized.

By |2022-06-03T20:25:43-04:00June 3rd, 2022|Bonds, Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

The fact that German retail sales crashed so much in April 2022 is significant for a couple reasons. First, it more than suggests something is wrong with Germany, and not just some run-of-the-mill hiccup. Second, because it was this April rather than last April or last summer, you can’t blame COVID this time. Something else is going on.In America, the [...]

May Payrolls (and more) Confirm Slowdown (and more)

By |2022-06-03T17:59:03-04:00June 3rd, 2022|Currencies, Economy, Federal Reserve/Monetary Policy, Markets|

May 2022’s payroll estimates weren’t quite the level of downshift President Phillips had warned about, though that’s increasingly likely just a matter of time. In fact, despite the headline Establishment Survey monthly change being slightly better than expected, it and even more so the other employment data all still show an unmistakable slowdown in the labor market. What’s left open [...]

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