Bank of England Governor Carney said shortly after the 5-3 vote at the MPC that now was not the time to increase interest rates. Today sterling is flying. It is posting the largest gain in...
The conventional narrative is that the yen’s strength is being driven by risk. It seems to border on circular logic. If the yen is up, it must be due to investors being averse to risk,...
This agreement will free up the next tranche of payment so that Greece can make a large debt service payment (~7 bln euros) next month. However, the underlying situation is not resolved, and until it...
The heavy hand of past borrowings continues to hang over us. China’s explosion of debt is worrisome. The bad loans being carried by European banks may be a factor restraining the willingness to lend. The...
Francis Fukuyama is one of the big thinkers of our generation. The question he asked in his 1989 essay “The End of History?” was answered in his 1992 book “The End of History and the...
UK Prime Minister May surprised the global investors and world policymakers by calling snap elections, precisely what the 2011 electoral law sought to prevent by fixing the date of elections. As recently as before the...
Rising oil prices traditionally boost inflation expectations and US interest rates. The May futures contract for light sweet crude oil is up today for the sixth consecutive session. It has risen 11 of the past...
Growing confidence that Le Pen will not be the next president of France following the televised debate for which two polls showed Macron doing best has lifted the euro and reduced the French interest rate...
A week ago, after nine Fed officials had spoken, the market widely expected Yellen and Fischer to confirm that the table was set for a rate hike later this month. They did, and the dollar...
The conventional narrative is that in the aftermath of the Great Financial Crisis, the economic and political elites in Europe and America are in dispute. They simply not delivered the goods, namely a rising living...
Freud warned that unresolved psychological conflicts might be repressed but they keep returning. So too with Greece’s debt problems. A new crisis is at hand. Investor nervousness is evident in the surge in the two-year...
Investors are anxiously awaiting more details on the new US Administration’s economic policies and priorities. Part of the challenge is that the cabinet represents a wide range of views and it is not clear where...
