There is a famous Time magazine cover from 1998, with a picture featuring 3 of the leading "regulators" at the time - Bob Rubin, Larry Summers and Alan Greenspan. The caption on the cover reads - "The committee to save the world". Of course, in retrospect, these were...
....Gimme an "R". Yes it’s true, during the Q&A Ben put the IOER back on the table. Many pundits had written the IOER off as a policy tool after the minutes from September 2011 suggested officials were too scared of zero rates. According to Fed and financial industry...
Last week was very interesting and very tiring. I started off Monday in Dallas at a dinner with a very lively Texan crowd, and a guest appearance by an ex-ECB governing council member. Mixing Texan-style EMU bearishness with southern Mediterranean central bankers was...
The following passage from the minutes of the September 2011 FOMC meeting has become market gospel on why the Fed will not lower the IOER - “Participants discussed whether to reduce the IOR rate, weighing potential benefits and costs. A number of participants judged...
It should come as no surprise to anyone that major commercial banks manipulate Libor submissions for their own benefit. The OTC derivatives markets was designed by the big banks, for the big banks, to ensure that as they set up their own private securities exchanges -...
Given the history of EU leadership meetings, everyone has become conditioned to expect disappointment. The market set itself up for just such a result last Friday, and the short covering rip fest in risk assets shredded even the most hardened of bears! As our readers...
The Eurogroup communique was short and to the point- http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/131359.pdf And while some folks will focus on the irrelevant removal of subordination in the Spanish bank bailout terms - the big deal is in the...
Nearly all published research on the "fiscal cliff" looks at the static drag on the US economy from the projected tax rises and spending cuts. In economics we call this partial equilibrium analysis - and outside the ivory tower, this type of work translates into VERY...
The XLE closed yesterday at 63 - only a buck above the June 1 lows. For the year, XLE is now down a whopping 8 bucks. And of course oil, which started the year at 103 and peaked at 110, has dropped to 78. It has been an energy sector bloodbath in the last few...
Greece has a government, Italian 2yr yields have a 3 handle, spoos are back to +8 percent for the year and all seems a little more reasonable in this crazy, mixed-up market. As for our beloved policy makers, the EU leaders appear to FINALLY have something up their...
Greece has a government, Italian 2yr yields have a 3 handle, spoos are back to +8 percent for the year and all seems a little more reasonable in this crazy, mixed-up market. As for our beloved policy makers, the EU leaders appear to FINALLY have something up their sleeves on separating bank and state financing; […]
