reserves

The combination of a 50 bp cut in China's required reserve ratios and anticipation that the European finance ministers sign off on the second aid package for Greece has lifted equity markets and most of the non-US dollar currencies.

There are two sets of important developments over the weekend that will influence the global capital markets. The first is in China and the second in Europe.

It could just be saber rattling during an election year, but Western powers have been provoking Iran for years now - two decades, really. I just saw another report proclaiming that Iran is likely to attack the US, which is about as absurd…

In conclusion, while there are links between the “twin deficits”, they are not the links usually imagined. US trade and budget deficits are linked, but they do not put the US in an unsustainable position vis a vis the Chinese. If the…

Last week we examined Milton Friedman’s version of Functional Finance, which we found to be remarkably similar to Abba Lerner’s. The only problem with Friedman’s analysis is that he did not account for the external sector: he wanted a…

Central Banks, whenever they buy any asset create new reserves. Commercial banks and people do NOT have the capacity to destroy those reserves. Once the Fed or ECB wires the money or creates that asset line item on its spreadsheet, there is…

Understanding the financial agreement within the context of that rivalry is more important than what it means for the future of the dollar as the world's more important reserve currency, invoicing currency and vehicle currency. Nor will…

I don’t think there is a whole lot to say about this week’s numbers beyond what I have been saying for the past several months. Nothing substantial has really changed. China’s external account is worsening, and will continue to worsen…

China has an interest in preventing the total collapse of the largest buyer of its exports, but it also has an interest in forcing Europe to divest its overseas assets. Chinese banks and companies are in a position to be a buyer of some of…

So here we are, with the ECB demanding deflationary austerity from the member nations in return for the limited bond buying that has been sustaining some semblance of national government solvency, not seeming to realize it can’t inflate…