2013

I will make this brief as I believe the links will do the talking for me. As I said yesterday, none of the economic data coming out of the US outside of housing seems to be surprising to the upside. That said, there is one bright spot here;…

I have been trying to break up the links posts because I have so many. So I have been writing brief theme posts to go with the links as I used to do when I had more time. I want to make this one short here and I have two topics to…

Japan is stuck in a shrinking population trap, and neither monetary nor fiscal policy will adequately solve the problem. Continuing to run fiscal deficits in a deflationary environment will only means that government debt is pushed onward…

I just finished watching the ECB's monetary policy committee press conference led by Mario Draghi. And the ECB has just announced a series of actions I believe constitute a new economic paradigm for the euro area, one that moves away from…

ECB President Draghi confirmed the decisions made today to cut the main refi rate by 25 bp to 50 bp and cut the lending rate, the ceiling of its rate corridor, by 50 bp. Most importantly he seemed more open to a cut in the deposit rate and…

It seems that the markets are discounting many of the risks that have plagued Ireland's economy in recent years. Ireland's stock market has significantly outpaced the S&P500 in the last few months - ISEQ is up 20% over the past year.

News links for 1 May 2013

This is a second daily commentary today to give some weight to what's happening in the US after a slew of European-themed posts. I have three or four topics to cover here and I want to begin with the US economy including some thoughts on…

The current crisis – which is arguably no longer a crisis but rather a way of life – has all now gotten so complex that the issues involved are almost certainly, and in principle, “beyond their ken.” Spain’s economy will continue to march…

Spain's 10-year bond yield has fallen 108 bp this year. Just above 4%, the yield is the lowest Q4 2010. The 2-year yield has fallen 93 bp this year. The yield is slipping through 1.70%, for the first time Q2 2010. Recent data suggested that…