Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Perpetual Q.E. Without The Billboard, Hyper Monetary Inflation / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
The US Federal Reserve has fooled a lot of people into believing that the grand monetary pump and debt monetization project has been put on hold. The only thing that changed was their talking publicly about it. The money press has been working to the limit, never stopped. The discussion has been kept quiet, but the machinery still makes a lot of shrill noise. The proof is not movement of lips by central bankers, but the data from the monetary aggregate. The data is compelling in calling them out. The conclusion to reach is that Quantitative Easing has become the norm, the foundation policy, the emergency action to prevent implosion of the US banking system. Hyper monetary inflation is the New Normal.
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Deleveraging is Over — It’s Time to Cut the U.S. Budget Deficit / Interest-Rates / US Debt
US commercial bank loans and leases bottomed in April 2011, after shrinking more than $1 trillion in the previous two years. The annual rate-of-change has now recovered to positive territory, relieving downward pressure on asset prices, including stocks and real estate. Deleveraging has come to an end and is only likely to resume if the economy suffers further financial shocks.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Financial Armageddon Delayed; All Quiet on the European Bond Market Front / Interest-Rates / Eurozone Debt Crisis
European bonds had a good day today. A good day is when nothing blows up.
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
ECB Expected to Unleash QE Money Printing after Launching of Euro-Bonds / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Hardly a week goes by, without a major summit between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, trying to devise another clever scheme to save the Euro. Yet after 1-½ years of trying to contain the wildfire, - the Euro-zone's debt crisis is more dangerous than ever. The collapse of Greece's €360-billion bond market, now trading at 26% of face value, has triggered contagion sales from periphery of the Euro-zone - Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and into the next upper tier of the Euro-zone, namely, the bond markets of Spain and Italy, which together owe €3-trillion of debt.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Eurozone Being Swallowed by Expanding Debt Black Holes, Mega Bond Market Profits and Default Booms / Interest-Rates / Eurozone Debt Crisis
The stock markets plunged last week and euro-zone bond market volatility increased with PIIGS yields spiking to new Euro highs as pressure mounts on the ECB to start printing money to monetize bankrupting PIIGS debt that effectively act as expanding debt black holes that threaten to swallow first the whole of the Eurozone and soon after collapse the worlds financial system.
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Sunday, November 27, 2011
When Even Germany Fails, Europe's Inverted Yield Curves / Interest-Rates / Eurozone Debt Crisis
Angela Merkel is leading the call for a rule change, a rewiring of the basic treaty that binds the EU. But is it both too much and too late? The market action suggests that time is indeed running out, and so we’ll look at the likely consequences. Then I glance over the other way and take notice of news out of China that may be of import. Plus a few links for your weekend listening “pleasure.” There is lots to cover, so let’s get started.
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Has the Fed Run Out of Ammo? / Interest-Rates / Central Banks
The Federal Reserve has become more in interested in what it says about policy than policy itself...
IS THIS a sign the Federal Reserve has run out of ammo?
The latest Federal Open Market Committee minutes contain a whole section on 'Monetary Policy Strategies and Communication' (the FOMC had a presentation on the subject – to have been a fly on the wall...)
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Run Eurozone Banking System and Debt Markets has Started / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
I remain in "awe" of the amazing arrogance of politicians and news writers who simply cannot take "no" for answer no matter how many times it is spelled out. The horrendous "eurobond" idea simply will not go away, even though Merkel and the German supreme court buried it long ago.
Even if Merkel was willing to give in on the idea, Finland and Austria wouldn't, and more importantly neither would the German supreme court.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
What is Good for EU is Bad for Germany? Euro-zone Debt Crisis Intermarket Views / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
What was good for EU was always bad for Germany and what was good for Germany was bad for other EU countries. This could not have been more pronounced than yesterday Nov 23 2011 as Germany yields rose 11.3% and now are up another 4% for the day as Bond markets take a disliking to the German paper or rather the attitude. But what is interesting is that as the German yields rise, Italy and France continue to be falling in terms of spread. Is this why they say :Germany is the crux of the problem?
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Big Banks, Big Governments, Big Debts, Let the Sucker Go Down / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Conclusion: Europe is in bad shape. This is hedge fund manager Kyle Bass's assessment of the situation in Europe. He stated this in a rousing interview on the BBC's TV network. Here is the segment.
He made two crucial points – points that stock market investors are ignoring. First, over the last nine years, there has been an increase of world debt from $80 trillion to $210 trillion. These numbers are staggering. Global debt over the last nine years has grown at 12% per year, while GDP has grown at 4% per year.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Manipulated U.S. Interest Rates Seesaw Gold Prices / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
This week, world attention finally shifted away from debt problems in Europe to the unresolved and worsening debt crisis here in the United States. The Congressional Super Committee, which had been created over the summer to postpone making tough cuts, chose to avoid responsibility itself. In so doing, the Committee has followed the path of least resistance and maximum irresponsibility. Given the likely after-effects, the outcome should be judged as criminal dereliction of duty. It should now be crystal clear to even the most casual observer that a solution to the U.S. debt crisis will not come from within, but will be imposed, perhaps brutally, from without.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
David Cameron Says UK Plan to Cut Debt is Failing / Interest-Rates / UK Debt
Plans to cut debt have failed nearly everywhere I look.
- Greece is obvious enough and a government collapsed over it.
- Spain is obvious enough and a government collapsed over it.
- Italy is obvious enough and a government collapsed over it.
- Portugal is obvious enough and a government collapsed over it.
- US is obvious enough and the failure of the super-committee to come to agreement is proof enough
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Greece High Flying Drachma / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
The worst-case scenario for Greece, should it be unable to secure further bailouts, might be that it would have to live within its means. Presently, spending only the money coming in is considered unbearably brutal. If Greece could only leave the euro, it could install its own printing press, inflating its sorrows away. Any economist will object: it’s complicated. But it isn’t: Greece could introduce a high-flying New Drachma, quite literally.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Financial System Doomsday, What Happens If the Eurozone Breaks Up? / Interest-Rates / Credit Crisis 2011
Martin Hutchinson writes: The time has come to confront an ugly truth: The possibility that the Eurozone will break up, or rather fall apart, is growing increasingly likely.
In fact, I'd say given recent developments in Italy the probability of a breakup is as high as 40%.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Paper Banknotes and the Indebting Of Nations, Banking, War And Bankruptcy / Interest-Rates / Fiat Currency
On April 3, 1024, “the imperial Sung Dynasty began to print and circulate chiao-tzu notes [paper money] in the province of Szechwan”.
p. 11 Ralph Foster, Fiat Paper Money: the History and Evolution of Our Currency, 2nd ed., 2008
In China, paper money was a monetary form of ‘Hamburger Helper’, an addition to the royal treasury that allowed Chinese dynasties to stretch their budgets by allowing them to spend what they didn’t have.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Italy Proves Simplest Reform Most Difficult to Pass / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Never mind Berlusconi's resignation. The story coming from the European Debt Crisis is hardly fixated around one leader of one country. Instead, the biggest story should be that even the most simple measures of government reform continue to be the most impossible to pass.
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Monday, November 21, 2011
European ERM 1992 Currency Crisis Replay, Government Bond Interest Rates Come Full Circle / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Tonight I received a thoughtful email from reader Rick Cameron who made some observations and notes way back in 1992 and recently went back to review those notes.
His notes are regarding the European ERM, the Exchange Rate Mechanism, that was supposed to reduce exchange rate variability and achieve monetary stability in Europe.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The European Bank Run Downward Spiral, Final Phase Of Goldman’s World Domination Plan / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here. Submitted by Tyler Durden.
"Nervous investors around the globe are accelerating their exit from the debt of European governments and banks, increasing the risk of a credit squeeze that could set off a downward spiral. Financial institutions are dumping their vast holdings of European government debt and spurning new bond issues by countries like Spain and Italy. And many have decided not to renew short-term loans to European banks, which are needed to finance day-to-day operations. "
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Sunday, November 20, 2011
Euro-zone Will Print or Perish / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
Europe is again at center stage. At conferences and meetings and in private conversations, it is the topic of the hour. I have thought a lot this week about Europe and its impact, so once again we delve into what is an evolving situation. This time, we look at possible impacts on the markets, as we ponder the questions, “Are we back to 2008?” and “Is there a Lehman in our future?” and I try once again to keep from making this a book-length letter. And I close with some brief thoughts I brought back from DC on the Super Committee and the deficit cuts.
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Friday, November 18, 2011
The Mother of All Dreads, Global Economy on the Brink / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis
Ramy Saadeh writes: The World is on the brink of a cataclysmic spiral that could make the Greek crisis look like a walk in the park. Interestingly, markets still seem very hushed about the emerging risks ahead; the final bell hasn’t rung yet, can this be it?
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