CNBC – New maestro in town: Fischer takes seat at Fed The dynamic at the Federal Reserve may be about to change. Stanley Fischer has been confirmed to join the board of governors, meaning he’ll have a vote—and an important say—in monetary policy starting at the next meeting on June 17-18. He still has to… Continue reading The Stan Fischer Era Is About To Begin
CNBC – Next baseball commissioner … Ben Bernanke? Could Ben Bernanke become the next commissioner of Major League Baseball? Stranger things have happened. Bernanke is known for his love of the sport, and he needs a new gig now that he’s no longer chairman of the Federal Reserve. There’s buzz around the decision process over… Continue reading Step Aside Bud Selig
Bloomberg – Draghi Convenes Retreat as ECB Contemplates New Horizon After all but promising that he’ll ease monetary policy in June, the European Central Bank president must now manage market expectations as banks from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Societe Generale SA speculate whether he’ll go further and deploy large-scale asset purchases in coming months.… Continue reading Is Draghi Ready To Do A “Full Bernanke”?
CNBC – Lagarde urges central banks to cooperate on policy moves As the Federal Reserve debates the timing of its first interest rate hike since 2006, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde is urging central banks to cooperate on policy moves. “I know that this topic has some very vocal skeptics, but also… Continue reading Central Banks
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg – A Gary Shilling: Dear Investors: China’s Problems Are Your Problems I have long argued that it will take a sizable shock to switch the current “risk on” investment climate to one of “risk off.” The robust U.S. stock market persists even though the housing recovery has stagnated,… Continue reading Why China Matters
Comment In the interview above, the following exchange took place regarding Fed transparency: Jeff Cox: You almost get to the point where there’s too much transparency here, where there are too many conflicting statements. Bill Griffeth: Wow. We’re going to know too much? Jeff: When you look at the market reaction, market doesn’t know which… Continue reading What Is Transparency?
<Click on chart for larger image> Bloomberg.com – Fed’s RRP Dominance Could Crowd Out Repo Market Participants (no link) Concern that NY Fed’s Dudley failed to mention in May 20 speech is that Fed could crowd out others from repo market when it “kicks off trillions of operations,” Credit Agricole strategist David Keeble writes in… Continue reading Reverse Repo
The Economist – Sea of tranquillity Volatility has disappeared from the economy and markets. That could be a problem A DECADE ago, the business cycle was an endangered species. Recessions in the rich world had become rare, shallow and short; inflation was predictably low and boring. Economists dubbed this the “Great Moderation” and gave credit… Continue reading About Low Volatility
<Click on graphic for larger image> The Reformed Broker – How Big is the Global Stock Market? The below chart comes to us from Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s recent global equity strategy report. You’re looking at a table listing the world’s equity markets (in billions) along with some fundamental and valuation data. The table… Continue reading How Big Are World Stock Markets?
The Financial Times – The macroprudential model back on the financial catwalk Policy ideas that seem terribly old fashioned to one generation have a habit of being reborn Think, for example, about how the last great shift occurred in relation to inflation targeting. Back in the late 1980s, the central banks of New Zealand and… Continue reading Regulation
The Financial Times – Checking out of the ETF hotel could be costly The average weekly volume of high yield and investment grade bonds has fallen 6 per cent since the “taper tantrum”, which began almost exactly a year ago, and caused fixed income investors briefly to flee markets. It also memorably caused two ETF… Continue reading Are Illiquid Markets Pushing Investors To ETFs?