Tag Archives: Featured

Overview: Investors’ mood did not improve over the weekend, and the lack of risk appetites are rippling through the capital markets today. Equities have tumbled, yields have backed off, and the dollar is well bid.  Hong Kong and Australia led the sell-off in the Asia Pacific region, off 3.3% and 2.1%, respectively. Regional losses may have been larger, but Japan, Chinese (mainland), and South Korea markets were on holiday. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is off 2%, the...

Update September 20 2021: SNB Selling Dollars and Euros Sight Deposits have fallen: The change is -0.2 bn. compared to last week, this means the SNB is selling euros and dollars. We had finally arrived in the inflation scenario I was speaking about before. Inflation is the period, when both the Swiss franc and gold must go up. BUT : U.S. CPI is at 5%, at the highest value since the year 1990 (excluding one outlayer in Summer 2008). But European...

The Fed meets this week and is widely expected to say that it is talking about maybe reducing bond purchases sometime later this year or maybe next year or at least, someday. Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at which he’ll tell us that markets have nothing to worry about because even if they taper QE, interest rates aren’t going up for a long, long time. That statement might have more credibility if the Fed had been right about just about anything over the...

The Fed meets this week and is widely expected to say that it is talking about maybe reducing bond purchases sometime later this year or maybe next year or at least, someday. Jerome Powell will hold a press conference at which he’ll tell us that markets have nothing to worry about because even if they taper QE, interest rates aren’t going up for a long, long time. That statement might have more credibility if the Fed had been right about just about anything over the...

Now that every financial game in America has been rigged to benefit the few at the expense of the many, trust and credibility has evaporated like an ice cube on a summer day in Death Valley. Here is America in a nutshell: we no longer solve problems, we manipulate the narrative and then declare the problem has been solved. Actually solving problems is difficult and generally requires sacrifices that are proportionate to one’s wealth and power. But since America’s...

Now that every financial game in America has been rigged to benefit the few at the expense of the many, trust and credibility has evaporated like an ice cube on a summer day in Death Valley. Here is America in a nutshell: we no longer solve problems, we manipulate the narrative and then declare the problem has been solved. Actually solving problems is difficult and generally requires sacrifices that are proportionate to one’s wealth and power. But since America’s...

Most economists are of the view that through the inspection of economic data it is possible to identify early warning signs regarding boom bust cycles. What is the rationale behind this way of thinking? During the 1930s the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) introduced the economic indicators approach to ascertain business cycles. A research team led by W.C. Mitchell and Arthur F. Burns studied about 487 economic data points in order to establish what...

Most economists are of the view that through the inspection of economic data it is possible to identify early warning signs regarding boom bust cycles. What is the rationale behind this way of thinking? During the 1930s the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) introduced the economic indicators approach to ascertain business cycles. A research team led by W.C. Mitchell and Arthur F. Burns studied about 487 economic data points in order to establish what...

The US dollar continued to trend higher last week, helped by the unexpectedly strong retail sales report.  Despite disappointing August jobs growth and the moderation in consumer prices, the Fed has no compelling reason not to move forward with plans to taper before the end of the year.  The Norwegian krone had been bid most of last week, ahead of the central bank's likely rate hike next week, but it lost nearly 1% before the weekend. It was the second consecutive...

The US dollar continued to trend higher last week, helped by the unexpectedly strong retail sales report.  Despite disappointing August jobs growth and the moderation in consumer prices, the Fed has no compelling reason not to move forward with plans to taper before the end of the year.  The Norwegian krone had been bid most of last week, ahead of the central bank's likely rate hike next week, but it lost nearly 1% before the weekend. It was the second consecutive...