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Tag: interest rates
Weening the market and Americans off of easy fiscal and monetary policy will be no easy task. The Biden Administration's proposed $1.9 Trillion COVID relief package is the first of two multi-Trillion debt-funded "stimulus" tranches to come in 2021. Between zero interest rate policy, debt-funded fiscal stimulus ($1,400 in direct payments to Americans plus extended … Continue reading It Will Be Difficult To Ween The Market Off Of Easy Money
"There is nothing more permanent than a temporary government program" - Milton Friedman. First is was the financial crisis of 2008 that "forced" the Fed to perform unnatural acts. It was at this time that the Fed introduced Quantitative Easing ("QE"). QE was to be a "one-and-done" program. That program remains part of the Fed's … Continue reading Muted GDP Will Force Investors to Become More Selective
Fiscal and Monetary policy enjoys a symbiotic relationship. Both the fiscal side of the house as well as the monetary side believe (in true Keynesian fashion) that spending is the answer to nursing the U.S. Economy back to health. This shared philosophy ensures that fiscal and monetary policies - State-Led Capitalism - will be coordinated … Continue reading Fiscal & Monetary Policies Are Joined at the Hip
We expect Federal Reserve Chairman Powell to reiterate: 1.) the Fed's near zero interest rate policy for the foreseeable future, 2.) the Fed's willingness for market intervention. Further, we expect the Fed to provide guidance concerning its CPI increase tolerance level. Historically that tolerance level has been 2%. We will clearly overshoot a 2% CPI … Continue reading Tomorrow’s Fed Meeting Will Be More of The Same
High Yield bond issuance has benefited greatly from the near zero interest rate environment. The Federal Reserve has played an increasingly larger role in the capital markets since 2009 with its extreme low interest rate and expansionary monetary policies. Q2'20 High Yield bond issuance of $125.4 billion was up 88% sequentially from $66.7 billion in … Continue reading The Quixotic Pursuit of Yield
This next round of debt-funded stimulus will ensure that the U.S. economy look much like Japan's at least for the next decade if not the next 20-30 years. The fiscal side of the ledger is a deficit-promoting mess and the monetary side is complicit by way of subsidizing the debt. Fed official Neel Kashkari believes … Continue reading More Debt-Funded “Stimulus” Ensures Near Zero Real GDP Growth
The Fed's behavior in recent months has been something out of a horror movie. The low interest rate, expansionary monetary policies introduced by former Fed Chair Bernanke and continued by former Fed Chair Yellen have dramatically accelerated under current Fed Chair Powell. Bernanke dealt in $Billions, Chairman Powell prefers $Trillions. Click any of the charts … Continue reading The Forever Bubble-Blowing Fed
Step 1.) Close down a country: What's done is done. However, one of the consequences of shutting down the United States is that the speculative grade default rate is expected to almost triple - 4.7% to 14.4% - within the next year. Not to speak of the millions of non-public businesses that have suffered revenue … Continue reading How to Destroy Productivity & Thwart Innovation: A 4-Step ProcessPremium
The market is trading on speculation. Fundamentals don't matter now. Fundamentals will matter again. The Fed can print only so much money before inflation rears its ugly head. We can't continue to devalue the dollar as a matter of long-term monetary policy without consequences. Our "print first, ask questions later" monetary policy and "subsidize everything" … Continue reading Mr. Market Is Trading On Speculation. Fundamentals Will Matter Again.
We have charted a number of economic data sets. Each chart - some more so than others - speaks to the current weakened economy and/or illustrates the inflated equity valuations we are experiencing. The latter in our view is not related to fundamentals but to the enormous liquidity the Fed has pumped into the economy. … Continue reading TEK2day Weekend: Economic ChartsPremium
