Tag Archives: Monetary economics

The ‘Fed put’ – gone until there’s blood in the streets Well, it’s happening.  Bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies are sharply down, along with equity markets in many advanced economies. And the Federal Reserve (the U.S. Central Bank) statement and press conference on Wednesday didn’t indicate any backing down from raising interest rates, maybe as soon as the March meeting. The Fed’s stance pivot from ‘the economy needs additional stimulus’ to ‘it is time to start...

Panel discussion with Ernst Baltensperger, Otmar Issing, Fritz Zurbrügg and Mark Dittli (moderator) on the occasion of the publication of the Festschrift in honour of Ernst Baltensperger, Bern, June 16, 2017. SNB press release. Video (SNB Forschungs-TV).

Festschrift in Honour of Ernst Baltensperger, Swiss National Bank/Orell Füssli, Zürich, June 2017, with Thomas Moser, Carlos Lenz, and Marcel Savioz, editorial committee. Publisher’s website. From the publisher’s website: »Eine Welt ohne ein gut funktionierendes Zahlungssystem, ohne Geld- und andere Wertaufbewahrungsanlagen, ohne zuverlässige Recheneinheit, das wäre eine Welt mit einem viel tieferen Wohlstandsniveau,in der wir nicht mehr leben möchten.« Ernst Baltensperger Ursachen und...

Whether or not San Francisco Fed President John Williams is right about US inflation and employment being about as close to the central bank’s targets as investors have seen – as he told CNBC two days ago – is irrelevant: The central bank is going to raise interest rates two more times this year no matter what happens to consumer prices, says Credit Suisse Chief Investment Officer for Switzerland Burkhard Varnholt....

The reflation trade that started before Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections accelerated in Q1 as global economic data improved and surprised against expectations. Global equities are up 6.5% in dollar terms with markets such as Hong Kong, emerging markets, and Brazil the clear outperformers. In its Q2 2017 Outlook report, Saxo Bank warns that the reflation trade will end in Q2 with a healthy correction in global equities.   The biggest perception-versus-reality...

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...