Despite being the last FOMC meeting before the ever-expected rate hike in September , there was a whole bunch of nothing in markets before and even after the policy statement. Even the typical knee-jerk was less than on prior meetings. Maybe traders have come to expect so very little from the policy statement, focusing more on the inanities and silliness [...]
If there is something different about the “dollar” in July it is that it has been in widespread pressure on funding. From early May to the beginning of July, the “dollar” was more hit and miss with only regional or limited disruption. Crude prices, for example, rising since the March FOMC, stopped but then traded sideways rather than appreciably lower. [...]
Sticking with the history of the “dollar” of these past two years, economists and gold de-buggers had to have been at least initially encouraged by what they saw outwardly of interest rates and related financial factors in 2013. Almost as soon as “taper” became a mainstream concept, right at the start of that May, the treasury curve steepened and nominal [...]
With all the problems right now beyond Greece and China, from Canada’s “puzzling” recession to Brazil’s unfolding disaster, and even the still-“shocking” US economic slump, it is interesting that gold garnered the most attention in early Monday trading. The fact that gold prices were slammed in Asian trading was certainly significant, but that really isn’t why gold is being highlighted [...]
When the FOMC came out and said the economy was good enough for them to begin raising interest rates, the eurodollar funding market did the opposite of what would be expected of that situation. Not only did the market move in the “wrong” direction, it did so with a great deal of conviction. Today’s jobs report moved the eurodollar market [...]
Whatever bearishness existed prior to December, credit markets clearly shifted beyond to a heightened state of concern. That was not lost on the FOMC internal discussion regardless of what they state publicly, as the action in credit has taken now to levels unmatched by anything seen in the past five years – and it’s not like the past five years [...]
The good news for global “markets” is that the eurodollar curve suggests some further relief from the persistent “tightening” that has gripped the “dollar” system since July. The bad news is that the curve is now less enthralled with the idea that the FOMC might actually raise rates as they say they will. That includes ignoring several assurances offered just [...]
Joe Calhoun circulated an article in Bloomberg that I never thought I would see. “Obama this month spoke four times in five days of the need to avoid what he called 'artificial bubbles,' even in an economy that’s growing at just a 1.7 percent rate and where employment and factory usage remain below pre-recession highs.” It goes on to list [...]
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