monetary policy

The U.S. dollar is getting hammered today. It is now trading near 1.34 to the euro, 1.42 to Sterling, 96 to the Yen and 1.14 to the Swiss franc. These are huge hockey stick style moves. from 1.30 to the euro, 1.39 to the pound, 98 to the…

Apparently, the Swiss franc is too high -- or so says the Swiss central bank. As a result, they are selling francs in the foreign exchange market to get the franc to come down. There has been a lot of speculation about the Swiss and their…

Thirty years ago, it was "Anarchy in the U.K." as Britain tried to get away from its role as the sick man of Europe. That meant civil unrest, high inflation and a weak economy. Margaret Thatcher was seen by many as the solution. Today,…

Let's talk a little about the data released on Friday. On the plus (contrarian) side, everybody is talking about the unemployment number and NOBODY happened to mention that consumer credit was UP on Friday, even before TALF. I think we…

Don Kohn's testimony before the Senate Banking committee was so outrageous that I feel compelled to re-post the first paragraphs of this article from Willem Buiter about the moral hazard it represents. Basically, the U.S. government…

Marshall Auerback here. I have a few words about the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility - otherwise known as the TALF. Economist Paul Kasriel of Northern Trust confirms my interpretation, namely that we get stuffed holding these…

In my post TALF: A bailout if one reads the fine print, I did not make any comments about the quality of the assets to be used as collateral or the mechanics of the operation. While much of this information has already been supplied by the…

The TALF is a way for any and all comers, domestic and foreign, with toxic asset-backed securities, to dump those assets on to the U.S. government at taxpayers expense. This is happening right now right under your noses. At least the Fed…

An ugly day in the markets has just ended with the financial services sector taking a beating in particular. Many shares in the sector trade for under $10. Bottom fishers might see this as a buying opportunity. Is it?