Category: Quantitative Easing
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Sunday, October 23, 2011
What Quantitative Easing Really Means / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Prof. Ismael Hossein-zadeh writes: Stripped from the fancy (and mystifying) jargon, quantitative easing (QE) simply means increasing the quantity of money supply, or easing credit conditions—in the hope of stimulating thestagnant economy. This is usually done byhaving central banks inject a pre-determined quantity of money into the coffers of commercial banksin return for the purchase of their financial assets, which consist largely of government bonds. Although it is typically done electronically, or on paper, its practical effect is the same as printing money.
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Thursday, October 13, 2011
FOMC Meeting: QE3 is Likely, if Economy Slips / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
The minutes of the September 20-21 FOMC meeting indicate that several members see significant downside risks to economic growth. They do not project a decline in GDP, but noted that the economy was “vulnerable to adverse shocks.” In this context, the sources of adverse shocks included “pronounced or more protracted deleveraging by households, the chance of a large-than-expected near-term fiscal tightening, and potential spillovers to the United States if the financial situation in Europe were to worsen appreciably.”
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Friday, October 07, 2011
Bank of England Increases QE by £75 billion / Politics / Quantitative Easing
Well,well,well, here we go again, more printing of money as the Bank of England announced that its quantitative easing (QE) programme will be increased by another £75 billion shortly. The Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee is taking its asset purchase initiative up to a total of £275 billion.
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Thursday, October 06, 2011
What's Next on the Fed's Plate? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
It's safe to say that the Fed's latest announcement won't be enough to get Wall Street fired up. In a decision designed to minimize the long run cost of money, the Fed's so-called "Operation Twist" has been a nonstarter for Wall Street.
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Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Operation Twist a Primer for QE3 Money Printing? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Is Operation Twist a failure? The stock market plunged in disappointment when it was announced. Keynesians are tearing their hair out in frustration, as it appears the Fed failed to ramp up the printing press. Free marketers are disgusted by the blatant manipulation of the yield curve. A number of Federal Reserve (Fed) President Bernanke’s colleagues dissented and/or are voicing public opposition. However, as the dust settles, it appears there is a method to the twist: Bernanke may have a plan…
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Saturday, September 24, 2011
Operation Twist Paves the Way for QE III / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Earlier this week the Federal Reserve ignited a firestorm in the global markets by admitting that the U.S. economy is facing downside risks. Although it continues to sugar coat the unpleasant reality, never has such a stunningly obvious statement resulted is so much turmoil.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
QE3: What are The Implications of Critical Warnings To Bernanke? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Top Republican lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have warned Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to refrain from further extraordinary intervention or additional quantitative easing after today's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Questioning the efficacy of the first two rounds of monetary easing:
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Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Central Banks Can Increase the Money Supply, Even If Banks Do Not Lend / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
I. The Relation between Bank Credit and Money Growth
In today's fiat-money world, money is mostly produced through bank lending. Whenever a commercial bank provides credit to, say, consumers, firms, and government entities, it issues new money, thereby increasing the economy's money stock.
Economists from the Austrian School of economics call this kind of money production "money creation out of thin air," as the increase in money through bank circulation credit doesn't require the existence of real savings.
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Sunday, September 11, 2011
QE3 and Toxic Assets: The Fed's "Monetary Ammunition" / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Many people believe the Jackson Hole was a non-event, a failure and it was. QE 3 was not announced, as we predicted. We believe that was being saved for mid-September when the $300 billion rollover in Treasury securities is completed. Mr. Bernanke has failed in a number of respects, the most glaring being zero interest rates for 2-years and no housing recovery.
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Friday, August 26, 2011
Has the Fed Already Started QE3? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Bud Conrad, Casey Research Writes: The Fed surprised the market by extending its policy of 0 to 0.25% Fed funds rate to mid-2013. The way the Fed manages to drive rates lower is to buy Treasuries with newly created money – driving the price up and the rates down. The big question is whether the policy will have a sizeable effect on markets. The chart below shows the historical jump in the Fed’s combined policy tools that were used to lower rates and bail out financial institutions through a variety of programs. These include the big purchase of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) called QE1 and the large purchase of Treasuries called QE2.
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Thursday, August 25, 2011
QE3 Gets Priced Into Markets / Stock-Markets / Quantitative Easing
Before Ben Bernanke lets a single sound slip from his mouth this week, investors have already put their money where Bernanke’s mouth is. Investors want a minimum of $500 billion in quantitative easing, betting on rising Treasury prices when Bernanke addresses the press about what the Fed’s next move might be.
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Monday, August 15, 2011
Ben Bernanke Pledges To Screw Your Grandmother For At Least Two More Years / Politics / Quantitative Easing
"A system of capitalism presumes sound money, not fiat money manipulated by a central bank. Capitalism cherishes voluntary contracts and interest rates that are determined by savings, not credit creation by a central bank." - Ron Paul
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Thursday, August 04, 2011
Debt Ceiling or QE3 in Disguise? Gold Smells the Rats / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
With the debt deal now signed and the crisis proclaimed to be over by the government and the mainstream lapdog media, it is time to take a serious look at the debauchery that was just perpetrated on the American people – again. The names have barely changed from 2008. The tactics certainly haven’t. The magic of government accounting has had another chapter added to it as something that actually adds to the deficit and requires money be borrowed on its behalf is now a ‘cut'. Isn’t that just special? There are several big myths about the past few weeks that we need to uncover before anyone is really going to understand what is really going on here.
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Friday, July 15, 2011
It Ain't Money If I Can't Print It! / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
I have been forecasting with near certainty that QE2 would not be the end of the Fed's money-printing program. My suspicions were confirmed in both the Fed minutes on Tuesday and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's semi-annual testimony to Congress yesterday. The former laid out the conditions upon which a new round of inflation would be launched, and the latter re-emphasized - in case anyone still doubted - that Mr. Bernanke has no regard for the principles of a sound currency.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Fed Tells It Like It Is... / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
And what it is isn't pretty at all. He said he's disappointed at how things are moving along and expects recent weakness to persist for a while longer than he'd like it to. When the fed makes a statement like that there's only one thing left for him to do. Be more inappropriate, of course. Keep the printing presses rolling day and night. Print those dollar bills as if they are the holy grail. He has hinted that there's a reasonable chance we will actually be seeing a QE3 program even though QE1 and QE2 did absolutely nothing for the economy other than to put it further into debt. He also talked about too big to fail meaning there will be no free markets. He will control what he needs to when he feels he wants to.
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Thursday, July 14, 2011
Bernanke Willings to Implement QE3, if Necessary / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Bernanke's testimony this morning maintains optimism about the second-half of 2011. He noted that "once temporary shocks that have been holding down economic activity pass, we expect to again see the effects of policy accommodation reflected in stronger economic activity and job creation." The Fed's projections of economic growth have been published following the June21-22 FOMC meeting. The Fed expects the economy to grow 2.7% to 2.9% on a Q4/Q4 basis in 2011 after a 1.9% increase in the first quarter and an expected gain of a little over 2.0% in the second quarter. At the same time, Bernanke's remarks were indicative of the Fed's willingness to provide additional monetary policy support to the economy, if necessary:
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Could There Be QE3? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
The minutes of the June 21-22 FOMC meeting released today hinted at the possibility of another round of QE. To wit, "a few members noted that, depending on how economic conditions evolve, the Committee might have to consider providing additional monetary policy stimulus, especially if economic growth remained too slow to meaningfully reduce the unemployment rate in the medium run." A couple more employment reports of similar tone to the June one might cause the wording to change from a "few members" to "most members." But I do not think there will be a serious discussion of another round of QE until the fourth quarter of this year.
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Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Will Bernanke Hint At QE3? / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Chairman Bernanke presented his view about the economy last on June 7, 2011. He is scheduled to testify about the U.S. economy on July 13 and 14, 2011. On June 7, Chairman Bernanke, indicated that "U.S. economic growth so far this year looks to have been somewhat slower than expected." Incoming economic reports, in fact, do not present an improvement in business conditions since June 7.
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Sunday, July 10, 2011
Why QE2 Failed: The Money All Went Offshore / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
On June 30, QE2 ended with a whimper. The Fed’s second round of “quantitative easing” involved $600 billion created with a computer keystroke for the purchase of long-term government bonds. But the government never actually got the money, which went straight into the reserve accounts of banks, where it still sits today. Worse, it went into the reserve accounts of FOREIGN banks, on which the Federal Reserve is now paying 0.25% interest.
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Thursday, July 07, 2011
Zombie America, How it Happened / Economics / Quantitative Easing
Americans had something to celebrate this Independence Day. QE2 – the Feds’ $600 billion money-printing program – ended on Friday. And guess what? The world didn’t end with it.
Instead, the stock market gave a loud “yahoo!” The Dow rose 168 points. If QE2 is going to be the death of the US economy, the stock market doesn’t see it.
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