If there is one thing Economists understand very well, it’s mathematics. This is practically all they do, and all that means much to their discipline. If there’s one thing Economists don’t seem either competent with or interested in, it’s the economy. The math is supposed to match the other’s reality, yet rarely does.There are times, however, when simple calculation is [...]
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury has obtained some bids. Not long ago the certain harbinger of bond rout doom, the long end maybe has joined the rest of the world in its global pause if somewhat later than it had begun elsewhere (including, importantly, its own TIPS real yield backyard). Even nearer-in inflation expectations have rounded off at their current [...]
62.3 Why the Biden (and Trump!) Stimulus is OVERHYPED———Part 3 Summary———The 2007-09 crisis was a permanent shock. Neo-Keynesians do not believe such a thing is possible. But consumers? Not only do they believe in permanent shocks, they KNOW they are very real. Therefore, the Trump and Biden stimulus payments have NO CHANCE of fixing the economy. ———Episode 62 Intro——— “I [...]
Twenty-fifteen was an important yet completely misunderstood year. The Fed was going to have to become hawkish, according to its models, yet oil prices crashed and the dollar continued to rise. Both of those things were described as “transitory” by Janet Yellen, and that they were helpful or positive (rising dollar means cleanest dirty shirt!), but domestically American policymakers’ clear [...]
62.2 Best Market Fed Always Ignores: Eurodollar Futures———Part 2 Summary———If there was A SILVER BULLET, if there was ONE RING TO RULE THEM ALL - if there was ONE MARKET TO FOLLOW to track the health of the global monetary order and world economy - it would be the Eurodollar Futures market. Incredibly, the Federal Reserve has a very low [...]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that in the month of March 2021 somewhere around 916,000 payrolls were added back to the economy. I have to disclaim the figure simply because the statistics used to create it aren’t really all that precise; piecing together data from a survey of 145,000 business establishments, a fraction of the economy’s total, the [...]
The sound of economic sizzle finally within earshot, though perhaps nearly a year too late. PMI’s for the month of March 2021 were of the sort which should have come about in May and June 2020. The “V”-shaped recovery was much talked about at that earlier time, though in PMI terms (as well as regular “hard” data) the numbers fell [...]
62.1 You Won’t Believe it: Fed Admits QE is Unhelpful———Part 1 Summary———Two Federal Reserve researchers claim the Fed, "can effectively reduce the [fragility] of the financial system by reducing the size of its balance sheet." REDUCING, not growing! To understand their conclusion we discuss: money dealers, interbank loans and collateral. ———Episode 62 Intro——— "I glanced at the list, running over [...]
Like a child fixated on a shiny new toy, I was enthralled by trading in WTI futures on Monday. There are times when end-of-day closing prices just don’t capture the full extent of what actually goes on during the several hours of any regular session, and yesterday was certainly one of those times. We’ve been on top of front-end contango [...]
Stay In Touch