We know that total liquidity is still growing. The Fed is still printing and pumping money into the system at an historic rate. That rate is well above the norms of the original QE back in 2009-10, but well below the peak panic levels of March and April. The Fed has been dialing it back from the extreme pumping it reached at the market bottom in March.
Ay, but theres’s a rub, and it’s not barbecue. It’s an irritant. And the markets won’t like it.
This data tells us exactly what the big picture is right now, while Wall Street economists are still scratching their asses and trying to figure out what the government statistician manipulated data will be and will mean. And the first report from that government data is still 13 days away.
Primary dealers have been gradually paying down their outstanding repo loans from the Fed, just as we have long expected. This has momentous implications for the stock and bond markets. You need to see these charts!
The Monthly Treasury Statement for May confirms that the economy rebounded during the month, but more recent data through last week suggests that the rebound has already expired. Signs of renewed weakness come when the numbers are still far from a full recovery. The economy is beginning to weaken again, starting from weakness.
That’s relevant because it means that the Federal government will need to continue to issue massive amounts of debt. It may not be quite as much as in March and April, but it will still be at least double past peak levels.
We also know that the Fed has sharply cut the amount of that debt that it is directly absorbing or financing.
Here’s what this means for your investing strategy.
The Fed has now promised QE infinity. But will it be enough, in the face of Federal deficit financing to infinity and beyond? Because for…
US Commercial Bank data had been sending warning signals that all was not well for at least a year before the stock market crashed. I chronicled that in these reports.
The warning signals came to fruition in February and March.
But then the Fed stepped into the breach and went crazy. What the Fed did, and is still doing, went beyond “unprecedented.” It was nuts.
To the degree that it’s true, the idea that the US economy is recovering is a catastrophic notion for the financial markets. Surprisingly, the withholding…
The line items of the Fed’s Pandemic Panic Emergency Programs get a lot of media and analyst attention these days. What a waste of time and energy. Let me explain why.
We’ve watched this bizarre scene unfold where the Fed is gradually reducing QE, the Treasury keeps pounding the market with new supply and stock prices keep rising. Here’s how they did it, and what changes ahead will force a change in the outlook.
I’ve marveled at the ability of the players to keep stock prices rising despite the reduction of Fed QE, and the continued pounding of Treasury supply on the market. Even more amazing is the fact that the rally in stocks has NOT come at the expense of the Treasury market. The Treasury market has managed not to blow up.