From the category archives:

central banks

State of the (Economic) Union 2010: is political news now a leading indicator of stock markets?
I can’t remember where I read it recently, perhaps even in the End of Influence, but the consensus among some who know more about it than I do is that stock markets, and most notably the U.S. stock market in [...]

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As soon as I saw this title on the bookshelf, it caught my eye.  Since I’ve been trying to curb my spending, I just skimmed it and put it back.  Well, I returned a week later and decided to buy it after skimming it again.
I’m not finished with the book yet (although it’s just a [...]

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Highest ever one-month inflation rise in the UK for December, fiscal imbalances in Greece, weakened macro-economics in Germany, a Canadian housing market bubble, higher than 50% gains in the commodity currencies since last March (2009), and the return of hubris and risk-taking in the U.S. investment banks… what do these all have in common?
Is it [...]

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Aside from American financial institutions and the Fed (the buyer of last resort), the largest buyers of US Treasuries and notes are all Asian countries.  You can probably guess which ones.
#1 – China
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China, more than anyone, is probably most concerned with the value of the US dollar and the stability of their US dollar investments.  [...]

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With long-term U.S. bond yields rising and much of the recovery seemingly in place, analysts are increasingly wondering when the U.S. Federal Reserve (the Fed) will begin to implement its quantitative easing exit strategy and start raising interest rates.
Currently the Fed baseline interest rate fluctuates between zero (0) and 0.25%and has done so since late [...]

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A gold tsunami is at our doorstep.  It’s not about a bubble, trade or even a wall of fear.  It might be partly some of each of those things, but that’s because it’s much, much bigger than each of those things.  And I’m no gold bug – nor do I keep a cabin hideaway full [...]

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Just last week, the UK pound sterling (GBP) hit a 24-year low against the Canadian Dollar when it also hit five-year lows in UK inflation.  The pound is currently weakening again as a result of the latest Bank of England reports on lower than expected Q3 GDP growth, which actually contracted 0.4%.
Ashraf Laidi, CMC Markets [...]

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