Tag Archives: Central Banks

By now it is well-known that as we profiled previously, one of the most ravenous buyers of US stocks in recent years, has been a central bank: the Swiss National Bank… Value of Swiss National Bank US Stocks Holdings(see more posts on SNB Holdings, )Value of Swiss National Bank US Stocks Holdings - Click to enlarge … which has shown a particular appetite for AAPL stock: Swiss National Bank Top Holdings(see more...

Largest Theft in History As expected, Ms. Yellen smiled last week, announcing no change to the Fed’s extraordinary policies. For the last eight years, she has been aiding and abetting the largest theft in history. Thanks to ZIRP (zero-interest-rate policy) and QE (quantitative easing), every year, about $300 billion is transferred from largely middle-class savers to largely better-off speculators, financial asset...

Authored by Nick Kounis and Kim Liu via ABN AMRO, Debate about the ECB’s stimulus options have continued to rage, with an equity purchase plan mentioned as a possibility We think the ECB could legally buy ETFs that fit its requirements… … but it would be controversial and we question the benefits An ETF programme could total EUR 200bn, which would not be large compared to the overall QE programme …and assuming a...

 See the introduction and the video for the terms gold basis, co-basis, backwardation and contango. Are Bank Woes a Good Reason to Buy Silver? Last week, it was the Fed’s magic boosting up the price of silver. This week, the slow slide in the silver price resumed, going all week except during peak fear about the woes of Deutsche Bank. When it looked bleakest—and the potential size of the capital-eating fines was...

Which blocs/nations are most likely to face banking/liquidity crises in the next year? Hating the U.S. dollar offers the same rewards as hating a dominant sports team: it feels righteous to root for the underdogs, but it’s generally unwise to let that enthusiasm become the basis of one’s bets. Personally, I favor the emergence of non-state reserve currencies, for example, blockchain crypto-currencies or...

John Hussman on Recent Developments We always look forward to John Hussman’s weekly missive on the markets. Some people say that he is a “permabear”, but we don’t think that is a fair characterization. He is rightly wary of the stock market’s historically extremely high valuation and the loose monetary policy driving the surge in asset prices. As he reminds his readers in this week’s market comment, he altered his...

A Litany of Failures It was widely expected that the BoJ would announce something this week after it promised to perform a comprehensive review of its monetary policy. It certainly did deliver a major tweak to its inflationary program, but its implications were seemingly not entirely clear to everybody (probably not even to the BoJ). There were many reasons for the BoJ to review its policies. For one thing, they...

  More Mumbo-Jumbo OUZILLY, France – Imagine the poor economist without a sense of humor. How he must suffer! This week was to be dominated by central banks. Two big ones – the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and the Fed – were to make important policy announcements. The BoJ’s chief lunatic Haruhiko Kuroda with one of his famous diagrams. How can this not work? It looks so neat! Photo credit: Yuya Shino / Reuters The speculators...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]An era of slowing growth, falling corporate profits, record debt levels, and currency debauchment has many investors buying gold as a bet against global central banks. Holding that gold outside the banking system, and for some, outside one’s own country, are increasingly popular options. Canada, Switzerland, and four other countries have particularly attractive characteristics.

[unable to retrieve full-text content]n honest capitalism, you do what you can to get other people to voluntarily give you money. This usually involves providing goods or services they think are worth the price. You may get a little wild and crazy from time to time, but you are always called to order by your customers.