Tag Archives: Federal Reserve

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF, September 23, 2016Click to enlarge. FX Rates As Nassim Taleb instructed, we should not be fooled by randomness. If you see six red results in a row at a roulette table, do not conclude the game is rigged. If you flip a coin, and it is tails six consecutive times, the contest is not necessarily rigged. Today has the making of the sixth consecutive Friday that the dollar gains against the euro...

As I noted on Thursday, the Fed non-announcement gave the bulls a reason to charge back into the markets as “accommodative monetary policy” is once again extended through the end of the year. Of course, it is not surprising the Fed once again failed to take action as their expectations for economic growth were once again lowered. Simply, with an economy failing to gain traction there is little ability for the Fed to...

Swiss Franc Once again the Swiss Franc was the strongest. The EUR/CHF depreciated to 1.0875. As said yesterday, the reasons: the Fed and the strong Swiss trade balance. Click to enlarge. FX Rates The US dollar has lost another 0.5% against most of the major currencies today, as Asia and Europe respond to the Fed’s decision. There are few exceptions to this generalization. The Norwegian krone has gained nearly...

Without the stimulus of ever-rising credit, the global economy craters in a self-reinforcing cycle of defaults, deleveraging and collapsing debt-based consumption. In an economy based on borrowing, i.e. credit a.k.a. debt, loan defaults and deleveraging (reducing leverage and debt loads) matter. Consider this chart of total credit in the U.S. Note that the relatively tiny decline in total credit in 2008 caused by...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Shifting intermarket relationships pose challenge for investors. The market is convinced the Fed will not raise rates. Greater uncertainty surrounds the BOJ; there seems less willingness to shock and awe.

Summary: Bonds are not rallying despite poor US data. Greater chance that Trump gets elected than the Fed hikes next week. Berlin may be more important than Bratislava. (Two week business trip is winding down, leaving London tomorrow and will be in Canada for the first couple days of next week, then back to NY.  Sporadic posts to continue. Thanks for your patience) Yellow lights are flashing. Bonds remain...

Swiss Franc The last ECB meeting and Dragh’s hawkish comments is for us the main reason of the euro strength, this despite stronger Swiss GDP growth. We see a mismatch between the weak ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI and the St. Louis and Atlanta Fed GDP trackers. Click to enlarge. Federal Reserve Our approach to Fed-watching is clear:  Among the cacophony of voices, the Troika of Fed leadership, Yellen, Fischer and...

Submitted by Michael Shedlock via KMichTalk.com, Looking for group think, extrapolation of extreme silliness, linear thinking, and belief in absurd models? Then look no further than Fed presidents, their advisors, and academia loaded charlatan professors. Today’s spotlight is on Marvin Goodfriend, a former economist and policy advisor at the Federal Reserve’s Bank of Richmond, and Ken Rogoff, a chaired Harvard...

SMI The Swiss Market Index, along with other European markets, fluctuated this week as central bank decisions dominated the landscape. Click to enlarge. Economic Data Equity markets advanced at the beginning of the week as chances of the Federal Reserve raising US interest rates later this month declined after a surprisingly weak report on the US service-sector earlier this week. The report followed data last week...

On his blog, Ben Bernanke discusses the merits of the Fed’s strategy to slowly reduce the size of its balance sheet to pre crisis levels. Bernanke suggests that this strategy should be reconsidered: First, the large balance sheet provides lots of safe and liquid assets for financial markets. This might strengthen financial stability. (DN: In my view, there are also reasons to expect the opposite.) Second, a larger balance sheet can help improve the workings of the monetary transmission...