The yield on the 3-month US Treasury bill is pushing above 2% today for the first time since 2008. The yield had briefly dipped below zero as recently as late 2015. Although today’s yield seems high, this Great Graphic shows the nominal generic three-month yield going back to 1990. Then the three-month bill yielded 8%. The peak in the last cycle (2006-2007) was a little above 5%. It is true that in the past business...
Read More »US Money Supply and Fed Credit – the Liquidity Drain Becomes Serious
US Money Supply Growth Stalls Our good friend Michael Pollaro, who keeps a close eye on global “Austrian” money supply measures and their components, has recently provided us with a very interesting update concerning two particular drivers of money supply growth. But first, here is a chart of our latest update of the y/y growth rate of the US broad true money supply aggregate TMS-2 until the end of June 2018 with a...
Read More »What will the rest of the year bring?
Risk assets have disappointed this year and global equities were trendless, but as long as fundamentals can re-assert themselves, there could still be some life in risk markets. Global equities were trendless and the overall performance of risk assets lacklustre in the first half of 2018. But while trade tensions have been causing jitters and could continue to do so in the short term, as long as fundamentals are able...
Read More »FX Daily, July 17: Dollar on Back Foot Ahead of Powell
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.21% to 1.1645 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 17(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar eased in Asia session and the European morning. The greenback had appeared technically vulnerable, and the economic news stream is light. Sterling, unlike most of the other major currencies, remains within yesterday’s range....
Read More »Great Graphic: Two-year Rate Differentials
Given that some of the retail sales that were expected in June were actually booked in May is unlikely to lead to a large revision of expectations for Q2 US GDP, the first estimate of which is due in 11 days. Before the data, the Atlanta Fed’s GDP Now projects the world’s biggest economy expanded at an annualized pace of 3.9% in Q2. If true, it would be the strongest quarterly expansion since Q3 14, when the economy...
Read More »The Great Gold Upgrade, Report 15 July 2018
In part I the Great Reset, we said that a reset is a terrible thing. The closest example is the fall of Rome in 476AD, in which more than 90% of the population of the city fled or died. No one should wish for this to happen, but we are unfortunate to live under a failing monetary system. Debt is growing exponentially. A way must be found to transition to the use of gold. We covered a few ways that won’t work. The Fed...
Read More »FX Daily, July 16: Dollar Softens a Little as Market Awaits Developments
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.05% to 1.1683 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 16(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar is slightly softer against most of the major currencies but is in narrow ranges ahead of today’s key events, which include US retail sales and the debate in the UK parliament over Brexit. The yen is the main exception. The local...
Read More »FX Weekly Preview: For the Millionth Time: Investors Exaggerate Trade Tensions at Their Own Peril
You would never have guessed it reading many of the op-eds and pundits pronouncing the end to globalization or the West, or liberalism. Global equities have rallied. Of course, stock prices are not the end all and be all, but it stands in stark contrast to the cries that the sky is falling. The MSCI World Index of developed markets advanced for the second consecutive week adding 2.2%. The US S&P 500 moved above...
Read More »Uber plans softer Swiss expansion drive
Taxi drivers and trade unions have both opposed Uber in Switzerland. The ride sharing service Uber plans to expand further in Switzerland, but not as aggressively as in the past, Swiss head Steve Salom says in a newspaper interview. Uber is present in Zurich, Basel, Geneva and Lausanne with 300,000 regular customers and some 2,600 drivers in Switzerland, Salom told SonntagsBlick. But it has also run into some...
Read More »Our Institutions Are Failing
Our institutional failure reminds me of the phantom legions of Rome’s final days. The mainstream media and its well-paid army of “authorities” / pundits would have us believe the decline in our collective trust in our institutions is the result of fake news, i.e. false narratives and data presented as factual. If only we could rid ourselves of fake news, all would be well, as our institutions are working just fine....
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