Risk-On-Hold

For the last couple weeks we have stepped away from our multi-year risk-on views. The news in Cyprus was enough to temporarily change the game. And while many folks have questioned our HIGHLY unusual bout of nervousness over such a small country, I suspect that once...

The New News is European Foolishness not Japanese Aggressiveness

The BoJ has at least 10 different policy levers to operate within the market place - the amount of JGB purchases, the average maturity of JGB purchases, the amount of CP purchases, the amount of non-financial BBB corporate purchases, the amount of JREIT purchases, the...

Bombs Diffused, Damage Done, Still Hanging in the Bunker

The Sunday evening Cypriot bail-in deal shows that the Germans are willing to go to great lengths to secure a political win. And let’s be clear, what was agreed last night was a HUGE win for Merkel. She silenced SPD critics on the issue of bailing out Russian...

Chips Off The Table……It Feels Mighty Good

There were no big surprises in the Fed statement or at Ben's press conference yesterday. The Committee tweaked the growth and inflation forecasts modestly weaker, gave a nod to fiscal policy risks and talked up some of the recent positives in the US data. The market...

Die Republik Zypern

What happened to Cyprus on Friday evening was one of the most significant developments in the Eurozone since the Greek election last summer. To tax the bank deposits of savers sends an ominous message to the entire global investment community. All of us should really...

Accommodation vs Trephination

One of the most common phrases I hear in the market is - "this is going to end badly". You hear it from Presidents of Federal Reserve Banks, Congressmen, gloom and doom market pundits, disgruntled fund managers who missed the risk rally and German politicians just to...