The Economist – In the name of GDP: In China, a TV soap on corruption attracts a mass following And one character—an official obsessed with GDP growth—becomes a cult hero RARELY has a Chinese city boss had more fans than Li Dakang, the earnest, driven Communist Party chief of Jingzhou. “I want development, I want speed… Continue reading How To Make GDP Into A Day-Time Soap Opera
The Economist – The strange calm in financial markets On China, commodities, credit and complacency There is a battle between those who believe the reflation trade has further to go and those who think the markets are dangerously complacent THERE is a familiar scene in westerns where the cavalry is riding through the mountain pass and… Continue reading Quiet Markets
Comment Today at 9 AM CT (10 AM ET, 7 AM PT and 15:00 BST) Bianco Research, in conjunction with Arbor Research & Trading, will be hosting a webcast/teleconference moderated by Jim Bianco. Now that the French election has passed, the markets’ attention will once again turn to the Federal Reserve. We will offer our… Continue reading Understanding The Fed’s Balance Sheet
Bloomberg – Traders Ask What Will Rouse Markets When Trump and Twitter Can’t Mobius blames social media as Blankfein warns over hubris North Korea nuclear tensions, a crackdown on debt in China, confusion over U.S. policy, elections in Europe: rich ingredients for sending markets into a tizzy. But it’s not happening. Volatility is at the lowest… Continue reading No One Knows Why Volatility is Stubbornly Low
FT Alphaville – The future is a scary place, charted Making comparisons between the possible reduction of the Fed’s balance sheet and previous episodes of QE is inappropriate, in our opinion. To assume ‘what goes up, must come down’ is overly simplistic because it looks purely at one side of the flows that went… Continue reading The Implications Of Shrinking Central Bank Balance Sheets
Bloomberg.com – Comey Firing Distracts Trump White House, Risking His Agenda Russia probe could damage effort to shape health care, taxes Republicans insist they’ll plow ahead despite dismissal President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey is an unwelcome distraction for a White House already straining to enact its agenda and could hamper its efforts… Continue reading Measuring The Hit To Trump’s Agenda
Bloomberg – For Some, There’s Never Been a Better Time to Buy Oil Oil is trading near $50 again, OPEC seems to be losing its ability to influence prices and a wave of new supply is hitting the market from Texas to Libya. For some, there’s never been a better time to buy. Despite… Continue reading Crude Inventories Drop
The Financial Times – Global ETF assets reach $4tn Funds attracted a record $38bn in April as shift from active management accelerates The shift towards ETFs has been particularly powerful in the US, where assets stand at almost $2.8tn at the end of March, compared to the $16.9tn US mutual fund industry, according to the Investment… Continue reading The Growth Of ETFs
Visual Capitalist – Visualizing Who Holds U.S. Debt Internationally Everyone knows that the U.S. Federal Government has roughly $20 trillion of debt. A question we often get, however, is who exactly owns all these treasuries? And if it’s held abroad by countries like China, what portion do they hold? Comment Those who wish to… Continue reading Charting U.S. Debts
Bloomberg Business – Fed’s Rosengren Warns of Overheating Risks and Seeks More Hikes Federal Reserve dove-turned-hawk Eric Rosengren warned the U.S. central bank was in danger of lifting its foot off the policy accelerator too slowly, and called for more aggressive action to prevent the economy from overheating. The Boston Fed president urged his colleagues to… Continue reading Rosengren Gets Hawkish
Bloomberg – This Is What Can Kill the Emerging Market Rally Dissenters in the face of the relentless emerging-market rally are speaking out. A drop in oil prices and China’s crackdown on leverage — spurring this month’s rout in industrial metals and iron ore — is setting the stage for a correction in developing-country… Continue reading More On Emerging Markets