Archive for September, 2016

Kuroda Discusses Downside of Negative Rates

Monday, September 5th, 2016

Via WSJ: By Takashi Nakamichi and Megumi Fujikawa Updated Sept. 5, 2016 5:58 a.m. ET TOKYO—Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday acknowledged the downsides of his negative-interest-rate policy, suggesting caution about further reductions. Coming amid a global debate about the efficacy of extreme monetary easing, Mr. Kuroda’s unusual emphasis on the potential damage ...

Bank Stock Rally in Japan

Sunday, September 4th, 2016

Via Bloomberg: Daisuke Sakai Masaki Kondo September 4, 2016 — 8:42 PM EDT The Topix Banks Index has jumped 30 percent since early July, tracking a widening yield spread between Japan’s 10-year government bonds and two-year debt. Lending rates could be higher with long-term yields climbing, while the funding costs for banks, such as ...

Trump Like Part Defeats Merkel Party in German State Election

Sunday, September 4th, 2016

Via Bloomberg: Merkel Party Suffers First Defeat by Anti-Immigration Populists Patrick Donahue patrickjdo September 4, 2016 — 12:13 PM EDT Updated on September 4, 2016 — 1:58 PM EDT Chancellor’s CDU beaten into third place in German state vote ‘Bitter’ loss in east shows persistent refugee backlash   Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party was beaten by the populist Alternative for ...

G20: Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing

Sunday, September 4th, 2016

Via WSJ:   G-20 Leaders Challenged to Find Effective Plan to Reignite World Growth By James T. Areddy and Valentina Pop Sept. 4, 2016 10:15 a.m. ET 19 COMMENTS HANGZHOU, China—Pointed words over China’s steel overproduction crystallized a challenge for world leaders gathered here to come up with an effective plan to reignite world growth. A few hours ...

Weak Wages and Shorter Work Week

Sunday, September 4th, 2016

Randall Forsyth reads dips into the entrails of the labor report and finds some weakness in the labor market. Via Randall Forsyth at Barron's: Job Market Isn’t Working For U.S. workers, weak wage growth and a shorter workweek add up to the worst employment trends since 2013. Also, a credit-rating problem for Tesla. By Randall ...

US labor Reports Tests BOJ

Saturday, September 3rd, 2016

Via Bloomberg: Deficits, Inflation and Helicopter Money for Japan Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda may have been wishing for a stellar U.S. jobs report even more than Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. The underwhelming result for employment growth in August increases the pressure on Japanese monetary policymakers to keep the yen on ...

Ennui Envelops Equities

Saturday, September 3rd, 2016

Via WSJ: By Jason Zweig Sep 2, 2016 12:07 pm ET 11 COMMENTS Beware of boredom. Last month was dull in the financial markets, even by the normally sleepy standards of August. The S&P 500 stock index didn’t move up or down by more than 1% in a single day all month, ...

Labor Report Recap

Friday, September 2nd, 2016

Via TDSecurities: TD SECURITIES DATAFLASH                    US: Payrolls Slowdown Frustrates Fed’s September Hike Plan ·         The US economy added 151K jobs in August, marking a sharp slowdown from brisk pace of the past few months. ·         The details of the report were a disappointment to markets, with decelerating wage growth and falling hours worked pointing possibly ...

Hubris and Dewey Wins

Friday, September 2nd, 2016

The Clinton team contemplates a landslide victory. Via Politico.com: Clinton’s advisers tell her to prep for a landslide Displaying unchecked confidence, the Democrat’s paid consultants see plenty of paths to the White House. By Annie Karni   Advisers to Hillary Clinton’s campaign have identified so many paths to an Election Day victory they are now focusing ...

Recession Scenario

Friday, September 2nd, 2016

Steve Feiss at Government Perspectives and @stevefeiss has reproduced a quote from  Albert Edwards who is a macro strategist at SocGen. He is a perennial bear on the economy but his analysis is always logical and his full pieces are always entertaining. In this excerpt he posits a consumer led ...