The Fed’s QE Unwind – “balance sheet normalization,” as it calls this – is accelerating toward cruising speed. The first 12 months of the QE unwind, which started in October 2017, are the ramp-up period...
Yesterday US President Trump formally launched his campaign for tax reform. The Big Six (Mnuchin and Cohn for the administration, McConnell, and Hatch from the Senate and Ryan and Brady from the House) had been...
The US dollar is narrowly mixed after selling off following the FOMC statement. Sometimes the narrative explains the price action, and sometimes the price action explains the narrative. This seems to be the case of...
Over the past 10 weeks – so since March 1, 2017 – five stocks in the S&P 500 index have gained a total of $260 billion in market value, the infamous FAANG stocks: Facebook, Apple,...
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...
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...
On Tuesday, the dollar fell 1.25% against the basket of currencies in the Dollar Index. The index is down 3% since its peak at the end of 2016. US companies that report in dollars but...
The market has not changed its mind. Following Brainard’s comments yesterday the market had downgraded the chances, which were already modest, of a Fed hike next week. The September Fed funds futures is unchanged on...
Last week, some market participants were giving more credence to what seemed like dovish FOMC minutes than to NY Fed President Dudley’s remarks that accused investors of complacency over the outlook for rates. Yesterday, Vice-Chairman...
All that is solid is melting. After Copernicus, we know that earth is not the center of Creation. Darwin showed us that humans are part of the animal kingdom. Freud told us we are not even...
An amazing thing happened at the Republican Convention when some unexpected language showed up in the official 66-page Republican Platform 2016, a document that a delegate from Texas enthusiastically called, “the most conservative platform in...
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that minutes of a meeting in China two months ago reveal that officials there have abandoned their commitment to give market forces greater sway in setting the yuan’s exchange...
