Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Summary: Fed made mostly minor changes in the statement as it hiked the Fed funds rate for the third time in the cycle. The average and median dot for Fed funds crept slightly higher. There was only one dissent to the decision. The Federal Reserve delivered the much-anticipated rate hike. There was one dissent, the Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari. In the first paragraph of the FOMC statement tweaked the...

Swiss Franc Switzerland Producer Price Index (PPI) YoY, February 2017(see more posts on Switzerland Producer Price Index, ) Source: Investing.com - Click to enlarge GBP/CHF Today is crucial for Swiss Franc exchange rates with a number of economic releases and political events happening around the world which are likely to have a direct bearing on the direction of the Swiss Franc. The US Federal Reserve...

Summary: Confrontation with China has been dialed down. Criticism of the Fed has been walked back. There is less talk about the dollar. Employment data has been embraced. As a candidate, Trump took a hardline. China is manipulating its currency. The Federal Reserve is acting to help Clinton get elected. The jobs data is fake. Over the past week, the each of these three positions has been considerably softened. It is...

To my mind, “reflation” has always proceeded under false pretenses. This goes for more than just the latest version, as we witnessed the same incongruity in each of the prior three. The trend is grounded in mere hope more than rational analysis, largely because I think human nature demands it. We are conditioned to believe especially in the 21st century that the worst kinds of things are either unrealistic or apply to...

To my mind, “reflation” has always proceeded under false pretenses. This goes for more than just the latest version, as we witnessed the same incongruity in each of the prior three. The trend is grounded in mere hope more than rational analysis, largely because I think human nature demands it. We are conditioned to believe especially in the 21st century that the worst kinds of things are either unrealistic or apply to...

The week ahead features the ECB meeting and the US February jobs report. The Reserve Bank of Australia meets, Europe reports industrial production, Japan reports January current account figures, and China reports its latest inflation and lending figures. We frame this week’s discussion of the drivers in terms of four sets of questions and offer some tentative answers. United States What is the significance of the...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, February 28(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) Source: Investing.com - Click to enlarge GBP/CHF GBH CHF continues to see a volatile period with the general global uncertainty which has seen investors favour the safe haven currency. GBP CHF currently sits at 1.25 for this pair and there is resistance at these levels which is preventing the pound from driving higher. Brexit is now...

United States There is a broad consensus around the macroeconomic picture. The headwinds slowing the US economy in H1 16 have eased, and above trend growth in H2 16 appears to be carrying into 2017. Q4 16 GDP is expected to be revised to 2.1% up from 1.8%. Many economists appear to accept that a good part, though not all, of the decline in the estimated trend growth in the US, is a function of demographic...

We discuss the rate differentials between Switzerland, Britain, Europe, Japan and the United States and how this Developed Financial Markets carry trade is incentivizing excessive risk taking with tremendous leverage and destabilizing the entire financial system in the process in this video. You want to know what is behind weekly market records, borrowed money via punchbowl central bank liquidity. This ends badly every...

Here are two different looks at Fed rate hikes since Volcker. The charts are the same, but one presentation is a lot funnier than the other. Federal Funds Target RateThe above image from the New York Times article A History of Fed Leaders and Interest Rates. - Click to enlarge Here’s an alternative view courtesy of @HedgeEye. - Click to enlarge Let’s take the fist chart and see what correlations exist between...