Janet Yellen wasn’t the only central banker boxed in by recent “dollar” strife. The Brazilian central bank sparked a counter rally in the real after it had crashed to an all-time low. After absorbing a relentless and devastating devaluation, Banco do Brasil had run itself out of further options. They had already claimed that raising the benchmark SELIC rate to [...]
As stocks selloff today, so too does the junk bubble. I think the implication traces back to the Asian “dollar” and the unsteady state of wholesale finance in that part of the eurodollar system (while contemplating the potential for mitosis to have occurred there at some point in the recent past, likely 2012). Junk prices not only remain depressed but [...]
Outwardly, you can appreciate why central banks act as they do under serious and dangerous circumstances. Prices aren’t just what someone will pay but also represent information that is transmitted broadly to all corners. Thus, if something is going wrong there are prices that will show it, potentially diffusing contagion to other places and markets. From a child-like perspective, it [...]
With close experience to the “dollar” run in July and August, we should expect that at least the contours of that disorder would be visible in the TIC data for July. The figures provided by the Treasury Dept. did not disappoint. In fact, the “dollar” waves themselves become almost fully visible in the data here and have really illuminated the [...]
Setting aside wholesale financial reasons and implications, the crash now in the Brazilian real is not good for anyone. It is, obviously, a disaster for Brazilians but the utter implosion heading toward disintegration in the world’s seventh largest economy (and what once was third in terms of marginal expansion) is both a warning and reflection. The economy there isn’t going [...]
It wouldn’t be a day ending in “y” without some funky news about what the PBOC is now doing. Today’s edition includes the unconfirmed rumors of forex deposits. Apparently the PBOC is going to require, starting October 15 (are they trying to force the bottleneck?), banks to reserve 20% of some figure which isn’t at all clear at the moment. [...]
In her testimony before Congress in July, Janet Yellen laid out the same talking points that have been propagated onto Americans time and time again these past eight years. The economy is moving forward and the Fed is doing and has done everything it can, and that there are “green shoots” still though no full and mature growth. Low oil [...]
By most accounts, crude oil prices are still nearing their March lows. That would suggest that this version of “dollar” turmoil might be yet working its way toward levels of disorder previously seen in that last episode. That is misleading, as even crude prices are appreciably more stressed now than they were in March. From that, it follows that other [...]
Repo rates absolutely surged at month-end, LIBOR jumped a few more basis points and the eurodollar curve is bid almost everywhere in large chunks. Commodities continue to get smashed, especially crude oil, and currencies are devaluing in almost equally large portions. Even the treasury market is somewhat sporting the tell-tale collateral calls. In short, the “dollar” problems continue into this [...]
Sticking with purely financial expression of the eurodollar standard it is easy at times to forget such monetary influence has very real consequences. That is true in the US in particular, as even though the recovery is both deficient and waning it isn’t the disaster it is in other, connected places. It was, after all, the rise of the eurodollar [...]
Stay In Touch