monetary policy

Frederick Searby says that Brazil has the opposite problem of the developed economies in that it is dealing with overheating and inflation while the developed economies have a serious deflationary undertow. His view is that if there is a…

PIMCO, the world’ largest bond fund call this suppression of yields financial repression because it means savers and bond investors get negative real returns. However, John Hempton pointed out that in Japan, where this monetary policy is…

I appreciate the role that Krugman plays. Like many of you, I enjoy reading his blogs and more often than not, I agree with him. He is almost the lone, sane, voice in a position of authority who argues against the standard deficit…

Markets stable but tone remains fragile. SNB expanded its sight deposit target; no EUR/CHF peg. BoE’s decision to stay on hold was unanimous. New measures announced by China boost CNY internationalization and integration with HK.

In characteristic form, the currency traders and those who trade in what is dubbed "financial news" woke up last week and discovered, à la Rip Van Winkle, that the Swiss franc was a haven currency charging higher. Never you mind that it has…

Remember, this is a solvency crisis too, not just a liquidity crisis.

While rate easing and its cousin permanent zero might have some salutary effect in the short term, these policies are toxic to the financial sector and consumption demand. Likely, they will not spur the economy but lead to a deepening…

Investors shunning US debt ‘for whatever reason’ presupposes the outcome. I need to see the steps that get us from 2.25% 10-year rates to 4 or 5% without the Fed actively raising rates because the only way rates are going higher is because…

As usual, I find Felix Zulauf’s commentary very perceptive. He has been right consistently for the whole of 2011 in predicting where things have gone. What he is saying is that the fundamentals in the west are weak and now that growth is…

The classification of assets according to such dreary concoctions as "mid-cap growth," comparative asset benchmarks is now over.