Following the same recent pattern as the BLS and its CPI, the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s (BEA) PCE Deflator ran up hotter in May 2021 than its already high increase during April. The latter’s headline consumer basket rose 3.91% year-over-year, its fastest pace since August 2008. The core rate, which excludes food and energy prices, accelerated to 3.39% from 3.11%, [...]
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. George Orwell, 1984 I have said many times and believe deeply that our job as investors is not to predict the future but merely to interpret the present as accurately as we can. I've also said and believe deeply that doing [...]
82.3 The Federal Reserve is NOT a Central Bank Pt. 3———Ep 82.3 Summary———Central banks inject liquidity into money markets to PREVENT a crisis. Let us review the last 14 years: Global Financial Crisis I (2008), European Sovereign Debt Crisis (2011), Chinese Reserve Crisis (2015), Global Financial Crisis II (2020). Not too good. Do they know what they're doing? ———See It———– [...]
For the month of May 2021, China’s central bank reported almost exactly the same as it had in April (or March). In the case of foreign assets, as has become standard, nearly identical. Despite reflation dollar flows being described and talked about, they still haven’t reached the official PBOC balance sheet which after so many months of this simply reduces [...]
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it must be inflationary overheating. Or not? As more time passes and the situation further evolves, the more these recent price deviations conform to the supply shock scenario rather than a truly robust economy showing no signs of slowing down. There are any number of those currently being [...]
82.2 The Federal Reserve is NOT a Central Bank Pt. 2 ———Ep 82.2 Summary——— In March 2020 long-term US Treasury yields shot higher - why? Aren't these safe assets? Did the 'Treasury market break'? No. Yields shot higher due to illiquidity. And liquidity is JOB #1 of a central bank. So... here's looking at you Federal Reserve. ———See It———– Twitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_AIPTwitter: https://twitter.com/EmilKalinowskiAlhambra [...]
Following this morning’s Treasury bill auctions, each of the last three for the three shortest maturities (4-week, 8-week, 13-week) have each priced to yield less than the new reverse repo “floor” rate set by the Federal Reserve last Thursday. The first two of those, a 4-week and an 8-week, took place on the new RRP’s first day. The latest is [...]
I thought of Gilda Radner this past week. Actually, I thought of a character she created on the original Saturday Night Live, Emily Litella, who was a regular on the Weekend Update segment. She'd start to rant about something topical, getting it completely wrong at which point Jane Curtin or Chevy Chase would explain it to her and she'd respond. [...]
82.1 The Federal Reserve is NOT a Central Bank Pt. 1———Ep 82.1 Summary———What should a central bank be? What does one do? Is what the Fed does 'central banking'? What did Ben Bernanke promise in 2002 that the Fed would never do again -- learning the lesson of the 1930s -- and how did he break his promise less than [...]
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