Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Fed Debt Monetization- Creating Credit Out of Thin Air / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Paul_L_Kasriel
Last week the Fed announced that it would purchase $300 billion of longer-maturity Treasury securities. The mainstream media got all excited, talking about the Fed "printing money." But the Fed figuratively "prints money" or creates credit whenever it acquires assets - loans or investments. For example, when the Fed purchases a mortgage-backed security, it pays for the security simply by crediting the deposit (reserve) account of the security seller's bank. Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 23, 2009
U.S. Treasury Bond Market Jolted by Panic Mode Quantitative Easing / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Levente_Mady
The bond market was jolted up by the “surprise” (not entirely for the readers of this column) announcement that the Fed will be buying not only additional boatloads of Mortgage Backed Securities and Agency bonds, but also up to $300 Billion Treasury paper during the next 6 months in order to keep a lid on interest rates for the foreseeable future. As previously discussed, the Fed has already taken the Fed Funds Rate down to zero, so they are “all in” on that front. Now they opened a new kettle of fish by joining the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan in what is called Quantitative Easing – i.e. purchasing Treasury bonds in the Fed's case. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Fed illusion as Rising U.S. Bond Prices Cancelled Out by Plunging Dollar / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Clive_Maund
Last week a very dangerous precedent was set when the Fed announced that it is going to start overtly intervening to backstop the ailing Treasury market. The market's verdict on this announcement was immediate and unequivocal. While Treasuries rallied sharply as one might expect, the dollar cratered and gold staged a dramatic turnaround to close sharply higher. The reason that this precedent is so dangerous is that once they start monetising this debt, which means creating money to buy that portion of newly created Treasury debt that cannot be sold off, there will be no end to it - they will eventually find themselves buying more and more of it, as foreign buyers continue to withdraw, deterred by a combination of pitifully low yields and any prospective capital gain being wiped out by the continued decline in the dollar that must transpire as a result of diluting the currency by creating money to absorb unsold Treasury paper. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
U.S. Treasury Bond Yields Reach the Bottom, Upward Pressure Starts / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Donald_W_Dony
The Fed has done everything possible to stimulate the economy by slashed interest rates to record lows, injecting billions of dollars into the financial system and even recently saying it will begin a program to buy up to $300 billion in government treasuries. All of these efforts have driven bond yields down to record lows. Models are now indicating that yields are on the rise.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Fed Hits Panic Button and Signals Trillions of Dollars Will be Printed to Buy Bonds / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Prieur_du_Plessis
Phew - what a week! What an announcement!
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday left the Fed funds range unchanged at zero to 0.25%, but stunned the financial markets with an announcement that it would purchase up to $300 billion in longer-term Treasuries over the next six months.
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Sunday, March 22, 2009
Fed Delivers a Gift to Bond Bulls with More to Come / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Professor_Emeritus
On Wednesday, March 18, another handsome gift was delivered by the Fed to the bond bulls. It was the announcement that the Open Market Committee has made a unanimous decision for the central bank to buy $300 billion in long-term Treasury bonds and notes over the next six-month period. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond immediately fell from 3.8% to 3.5%, while the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell more: from 3% to 2.53%, increasing the price of the note by 42/32 from 9726/32 to 10128/32, the biggest one-day rise in years. The gift of risk-free profits is granted to the bond bulls through courtesy of the Fed, in telling them in advance about its intention of buying long-dated government debt. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Fed’s $1 Trillion Debt-Buying Plan Loosens Lending and Drains the Dollar / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Money_Morning
Jason Simpkins writes: While the U.S. Federal Reserve's plan to buy more than $1 trillion in debt has helped unfreeze the credit markets, it has also effectively capped U.S. Treasury yields and undermined the dollar. And that's caused commodities to soar as currency speculators and safe-haven investors head for higher ground. Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Fed Launching Trillion Dollar Bond Market Lifeboat Before the Ship Sinks / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Paul_Craig_Roberts
On March 19 the New York Times reported : "The Fed said it would purchase an additional $750 billion worth of government-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities, on top of the $500 billion that it is currently in the process of buying. In addition, the Fed said it would buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months." Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Federal Reserve: The Greatest Scam in History / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
By: Bob_Kirtley
We first posted this article on 13th August 2007 when it appeared to us that the US Dollar along with the economy was heading into such dangerous waters that gold would be the beneficiary. At the time gold was trading at around $670/oz and it closed yesterday at $960 for a gain of $290 or 43.2%. Yesterday was the first time that we have seen the ‘ C ‘ word used as the Federal Reserve announced that it would be buying back $300 billion in longer-term Treasuries in order to assist the economic recovery. This move to buy these Treasuries is regarded by many as a last resort or a sign of panic as the turmoil in the financial markets reaches a crisis point.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, March 20, 2009
Fed Rings the Mother of all Inflationary Bells / Interest-Rates / Inflation
By: Peter_Schiff
There is an old adage on Wall Street that no one rings a bell at major market tops or bottoms. That may be true in normal times, but as many have noticed, we are now completely through the looking glass. In this parallel reality, Ben Bernanke has just rung the loudest bell ever heard in the foreign exchange and government debt markets. Investors who ignore the clanging do so at their own peril. The bell's reverberations will be felt by everyday Americans, whose lives are about to change in ways few can imagine.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, March 20, 2009
Fed Debt Monetization Moves Spark Refi Madness / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Money_and_Markets
Mike Larson writes: The Federal Reserve has done it now. In poker terms, it's gone “all in.” Specifically, the Fed said this week that it will ramp up its purchases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) from $500 billion to a whopping $1.25 TRILLION in the coming months. The Fed is also going to double its purchases of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Federal Home Loan Bank bonds to $200 billion from $100 billion. Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Central Banks Detonate the Quantitative Easing Monetary Nuclear Option / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Gary_Dorsch
Desperate times call for desperate measures. As the global “credit crunch” has grown increasingly severe, central bankers are examining the Great Depression of the 1930's for possible parallels that are relevant to today's situation. Most worrisome, is the synchronized meltdown of the global stock markets, which had wiped-out $32-trillion of wealth, on top of another $10-trillion in losses in real estate. Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 19, 2009
The US Fed To Print Money / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: PaddyPowerTrader
Shock and awe is back in vogue. Yesterday was a landmark day in this crisis with the Fed going all-in (see below) after flip flopping about on the merits of quantitative easing (QE). But now it's all hands to the eletronic printing presses as they clearly don't believe that Geithner's TALF could do the heavy lifting required. Stock rallied as VIX declined back to 40 (the floor of its recent range). But is QE a sign of desperation? It is a serious negative for the EUR/USD , which kissed 1.3536 overnight. Gold of course bounced as the textbooks say this will ultimately be inflationary. But it beats living in caves. Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Bernanke Fights Debt Deflation By Printing Money / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Mike_Shedlock
We are in the middle of a grand experiment. Bernanke upped the ante today in his foolish quest to beat deflation. Please consider the FOMC Press Release.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
US Treasury Bonds As Competitor Safe Haven For Gold / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Jim_Willie_CB
Dogs and cats are mortal enemies in the animal world. In the insect world, ants and termites are mortal enemies. In the financial world, gold and USTreasury Bonds are mortal enemies. They compete for the revered role of safe haven for funds. In today's day and age, with numerous storms, some unprecedented, safe haven is especially valuable. One of the most important jobs for the US Federal Reserve, JPMorgan (its agent), and the US Congress is to create the impression that USTreasurys are indeed not only safe, but beyond reproach and free from any hint of default potential. In recent months, with a failure of many important US-based financial engines, and sharp economic decline, made more complex by mammoth commitments from the USGovt on rescues and stimulus, the pristine image of USTreasurys has suffered from severe tarnish. Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Real Ponzi Scheme– Unreal Interest Rates / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Rob_Kirby
Recently, former chairman of the Federal Reserve – Alan Greenspan – penned an editorial, “ The Fed Didn't Cause the Housing Bubble ”. It was published in The Wall Street Journal March 11, 2009 .
In the article Mr. Greenspan attempts to blame today's global financial crisis on “too-low mortgage rates” between 2002 and 2005 which led to a real estate bubble.
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Sunday, March 15, 2009
Will Global Quantitative Credit Easing Work? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Prieur_du_Plessis
The Wall Street Journal: New fears as credit markets tighten
“The credit markets are seizing up again amid new anxieties about the global financial system.
“The fear and uncertainty that sent stocks to 12-year lows is now roiling the market for corporate bonds and loans, which have given back much of the gains they chalked up earlier in the year.
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Sunday, March 15, 2009
Swiss Quantitative Easing, Where are the Safe Havens Now? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: Michael_Pollaro
Where or where have our safe havens gone? Ah yes, there is always the Swiss Franc, right? Not any more!
First, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) sold off its gold reserves. Next, it began cutting interest rates. Later it announced a bias towards “quantitative easing.” Then we learn it's even willing to loosen bank secrecy rules. Now, this headline from MarketWatch:
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Saturday, March 14, 2009
Bond Market Fails to Follow Stock Markets Sharp Rally / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Levente_Mady
The bond market traded sideways last week in spite of the sharp rally in equities. The market received the bond auctions quite smoothly as it was supported by further rumours of potential Federal Reserve purchases of Treasury securities. Since the US Federal Reserve has already lowered their benchmark to the 0-0.25% range, there is not much room left for them to stimulate the economy with further rate cuts. As a result, bond traders are expecting the Fed leaders to announce a Treasury bond purchase program as early as at their next policy meeting on Wednesday, March 18. Most market watchers are familiar with the “Greenspan put” that got the economy off the hook every time it encountered a bump in the road.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, March 13, 2009
New Recovery Highs Expected in UltraShort TBT T-Bond ETF / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Mike_Paulenoff
My near and intermediate term work indicates strongly that the upside pivot low at 44.01 last Friday (3/06) in the ProShares Ultrashort 20+ Year T-Bond ETF (NYSE: TBT) completed the corrective period off of the 2/09 recovery rally high at 49.86. If that proves to be the case, then all of the action this week- the climb to 48.20 on Wed., followed by the pullback yest. and today- represent the start of a new upleg that should propel the TBT to new recovery highs. Read full article... Read full article...