Barry Ritholtz wrote an opinion piece on Bloomberg today arguing that it’s hard to criticize the Fed’s QE programs simply because we don’t know what would have happened without them. Since this is not a “controlled” experiment in which we can compare a…
The Fed struck a somewhat more hawkish tone today – certainly enough to spook the markets. Expectations for the first rate hike have shifted forward by nearly a quarter, pointing to late spring of 2015 as the starting point.This monetary stance, combin…
The stock market crash this week that occurred five years ago this Sunday marks a solemn anniversary for U.S. stock markets.
Today Credit Suisse confirmed our earlier assessment that the ECB will be shifting toward a looser monetary stance in the near future
Economic indicators continue to point the Fed staying the course with the policy of “small taper” (see post) – a gradual reduction in securities purchases. Behind all the noisy economic data over the past month, one key measure is telling the central b…
The release of the December FOMC meeting minutes makes clear one thing: the U.S. Federal Reserve does not have a plan for the course of the stimulus reduction it announced last month.
Last Wednesday afternoon, after much gnashing of teeth, the Fed finally revealed its long-awaited quantitative easing (QE) taper plans…
And the Dow jumped by almost 300 points.
The Fed meeting today and tomorrow will focus on when to taper the $85 billion monthly bond purchasing program known as quantitative easing (QE).
The Federal Reserve remains concerned about exiting the massive bond buying program that has been in place for over a year now. The program has become a bit of a trap (see post), creating a dependence on an unsustainable levels of stimulus. The concern…
Why gold is up today: Gold prices on Tuesday morning staged the biggest advance since mid-October. Gold prices ended Tuesday’s session sharply higher, hitting a three-week high. February gold gained $28, or 1.5%, at $1,262.20 an ounce. Spot gold added $22.70 to reach $1,263.50 an ounce.