Tag Archives: Cool Video

I joined Ben Lichtenstein, host of the morning futures program at TDAmeritrade.  It is in the futures market that I began my career, and where I gained respect for local traders, who do not have a large institutional backing such as a bank or hedge fund, and are trading their own capital, and taking the risk often from those institutional participants.  There is truly a David vs. Goliath drama being played out with asymmetries of information and depth of capital...

I had the privilege to join Sri Jegarajah at CNBC Asia at the start of today’s Asia Pacific session.  We had a broad chat about the dollar, Brexit, and the euro. He gave me the opportunity to sketch out my views: The dollar’s entered a cyclical decline, and the “twin deficit” issue will likely frame the narrative. Many observers do not use that particular phrase now, but their arguments seem to rest on one if not both of the legs. Sterling gains appear to be more...

I began my career as a reporter on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, covering the currency futures and short-term interest rate futures for a news wire. Among other things, I learned that often, the locals, people trading with their own money and wits, would take the opposite side of trades of the institutional players. The institutional operators had deeper pockets but were looking to lay-off risk. It was a David vs. Goliath story often. It is,...

From my remote location in Ocean Grove (next to Asbury Park of Bruce Springstein fame), I joined Martin Soong and Sir Jegarajah for a brief interview as the Asia session was about to begin the new week. A three-minute clip of the interview can be found here. I suggest that there are two main drivers of the markets now. There is the fear of the new surge in Covid cases and the economic implications, on the one hand, which discourages risk-taking. On the other hand,...

Sometimes the news drives the price action, but sometimes the price action drives the news.  If the initial rally in US stocks after the FOMC meeting had been sustained and if the dollar had continued to decline, observers would drawing a different conclusion. Because of the sell-off in risk assets, many observers are blaming the Fed’s pessimism. I do not see it that way. The median Fed GDP forecast for this year and next is above the OECD’s newest forecasts, for...

Jackie Pang from Meigu TV called and wanted to talk about the seeming disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street. In this nearly 4.5 minute clip that she posted here, she gave me plenty of time to explain what I make of it. At the beginning of the year, as the S&P 500 was making new record highs, many observers wondered about the connection. The growing disparity of wealth and income may also raise questions about the linkages between Wall Street and Main...

Here is a nine-minute clip of a chat I had with Ben Lichtenstein at TD Ameritrade. Ben captures futures traders’ energy and breadth of vision.  Often in institutional settings, one develops a specialization, but in my experience, futures traders are more likely to look across the markets and asset classes.  It is one of the lasting lessons learned early in my career on the floor of the CME.  We focus on the S&P 500 and yesterday’s German court decision, which I...

As the markets were re-opening in Asia earlier today, I joined Martin Soong and Sir Jegarajah on CNBC Asia. I had returned from a business trip and visited our summer house on the Jersey shore for what I thought was going to be a weekend more than a month ago. Oil prices had initially reacted positively to the OPEC+ agreement. Still, I was skeptical as the cuts seemed inadequate to meet the dramatic compression in demand, let along the notorious non-compliance by...

I joined Tom Keene and Marty Schenker (chief content officer) on the set of Bloomberg TV this morning. Schenker discussed some of the geopolitical issues in the Middle East, and Keene asked about the impact on the dollar. I expressed my concern that the chief threat to the dollar’s role in the world economy is the several administrations have increasing weaponized access to the dollar and the dollar funding market. It used to be a public good, a utility if you will....

The IMF projects that China will expand by less than 6% in 2020, but unless China provides more stimulus, it may be difficult to achieve. This is not only my view but also the view of Helen Qiao, the chief economist for Greater China at Bank of America. I was on the Bloomberg set with Alix Steele and Ms. Qiao earlier today. The PBOC passed on an opportunity to cut rates this week when it set the new Loan Prime Rate.  Qiao says there is still a window for fresh action...