Starting June 8, oil prices began falling again, reversing their more optimistic trend that had lingered since February 11 long after the usual correlation to CNY was broken. In fact, by the time WTI had peaked, CNY was already being meddled with again in clear PBOC interference. Despite being backward to what was 2015’s relationship of death, by July the [...]
On March 9, 2016, front month trading for Japanese government bond (JGB) futures was halted at 12:32 pm Tokyo time. Selling had become intense, tripping the Osaka Exchange’s dynamic circuit breaker. The total length of the halt was just 30 seconds, but fingers were already being pointed in the direction of the BoJ. More than four months later, on July [...]
Economic Reports Scorecard If you want to understand the US economy based on one economic report, you could do a lot worse than the report on productivity released last week. This was the third quarter in a row that showed a decline in US productivity. That is, output was up (GDP was positive) but not as much as the amount [...]
The simple fact of the matter is that 2012 wasn’t supposed to happen. By every orthodox prediction and theory about the set of tools deployed after the Great Recession (after it, the first clue) there was no reason to suspect anything but the usual cyclical occurrences. Sure, the recovery would be weak because the recession large, but retrenchment was never [...]
John Williams: Finally, monetary policy frameworks should be critically reevaluated to identify potential improvements in the context of a low r-star. Although targeting a low inflation rate generally has been successful at taming inflation in the past, it is not as well-suited for a low r-star era. There is simply not enough room for central banks to cut interest rates [...]
It is a basic element of logic that if A = B and B = C, then A must also equal C. In terms of action, if I do a thing and that thing always leads to a predictable outcome, not seeing that outcome causes one to question whether or not one actually did that thing. In other words, A [...]
Jeffrey Snider: All Signs Point to Global Systemic Reset
In April 2009, the new Obama administration created somewhat of a political controversy when it was originally reported by the Wall Street Journal that the US was providing $2 billion or more to fund offshore drilling – in Brazil. To many on the “right”, that seemed quite hypocritical given the public stance on all things oil. My interest is entirely [...]
In the late 1990’s, economists attempted to get reacquainted with something that they previously believed was an artifact of long ago history. The plight of Japan during that decade had revived fears of deflation and depression. Some economists, those daring enough to challenge entrenched notions, began even to contemplate whether or not it could happen here. Writing in the New [...]
One of the primary points of emphasis with regard to Japan’s QQE was the yen itself. Pushing the value down, even by misconceptions about what central banks do, was supposed to simultaneously increase inflation pressures via the currency translation while also stimulating the export sector to a sufficient degree that Japan Inc. would be reborn and share the nominal gains [...]
Stay In Touch