Archives of “central banks” tag

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The question is not if but how much will the ECB deliver this week – Danske Bank

  
  Analysis
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The firm outlines its expectations ahead of the ECB meeting this week

ECB

Analysts at the firm say that “the question is not if the ECB will announce new initiatives but how much it will deliver” instead. I think that’s an argument that everyone already has figured out by now. So, let’s see what they are expecting:

“We expect the ECB to announce (1) a 20bp cut in the deposit rate (other key rates unchanged) and that the extended forward guidance (‘at present or lower…well past the horizon of net asset purchases’) will remain; (2) a 12-month QE restart of €45-60bn per month, albeit also acknowledging the downside risks given the recent hawkish communications from a few Governing Council members; and (3) a tiering system.”

At this stage, a cut to the ECB deposit facility rate, a tiering system and a change in forward guidance message is all but guaranteed. The big question is whether or not we will see the reintroduction of QE this week.

(more…)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Needs Money

  
Analysis, Economy, Education, Gold / Silver
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 International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued a statement that it would begin selling large holdings of its gold reserves

IMF: Says will shortly begin ‘on market sales’ for remaining 191 tons of gold; To start selling up to $7B of gold to market

– Gold will be sold in a “phased manner” to avoid disruptions to gold market

– On market sales does not preclude sales of gold to interested central banks.
– Off-market sales would reduce amount of gold to be sold on the market.

So why is the IMF selling its gold? Is it that the monetary fund is looking ahead to more countries needing cash bailouts? Or does the IMF view gold as a worthless commodity in the future?

The announcement did impact the gold price as reflected on this gold chart which shows the reaction.

IMF-GOLD SELLING

More Sellers than Buyers

  
Analysis, Education
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“The real story of the rescue. Save the euro, must save the euro. All the world’s central banks rush to save a fiat currency. If the euro should collapse, it would demonstrate the inherent vulnerability of a leading fiat currency. The central banks and the IMF have put up nearly one trillion dollars to bail out Greece, but more important, to show the world that fiat currencies are “safe” and here to stay. Remember, the business and power of central banks lies in their fiat, non-intrinsic money – money they can create at will). To hell with Greece, the euro, therefore, at all costs, MUST be saved. In all my market years, I’ve never seen such consternation and disbelief in market action, and I’m referring to last week’s crash. Headlined the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, “Stocks’ Plunge a Troubling Mystery.” From the NY Times on Saturday, “Origin of Scare on Wall Street Eludes Officials.” Front page of Barron’s — “Don’t Let Europe’s Problems Fool You. The Bull Market Will Regain His Footing.” The Saturday Wall Street Journal even viewed the crash as a God-given opportunity with a big black-letter headline, “Playing the Market Plunge.” Wall Street and the public are so all-fired bullish that they are calling the crash a mistake, a computer error, or even the stock market losing its mind. Nobody, it appears, accepted the crash at face value. I find the cynical reaction to the crash rather ominous. I’d call it total disbelief in the market. Behind the disbelief are the unspoken words, “The economy is good, Corporate earnings are improving dramatically. Therefore, the stock market must be advancing. The crash was a terrible mistake. The stock market has lost its mind. Buy the mistake, it’s a great opportunity.” A radio station called me and asked what caused the crash. I answered, “Four words — More sellers than buyers.” The interviewer seemed stunned. He paused for about 10 seconds and asked, “You mean that’s it?” I answered, “Right, when sellers overwhelm buyers in a big way, guess what? The market goes down in a big

Eurozone December inflation stays low at 0.8%

  
Analysis, Education
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The eurozone’s annual inflation rate for December has just been confirmed at 0.8 per cent, in line with expectations and the preliminary reading of the data.

Eurostat, the EU’s offical data provider, also confirmed that prices in the last month of 2013 rose by 0.3 per cent from November in the shared currency area.

From the full release:

The largest upward impacts to euro area annual inflation came from electricity (+0.11 percentage points), tobacco (+0.08) and restaurants & cafés (+0.05), while telecommunications (-0.14), fuels for transport (-0.13) and medical & paramedical services (-0.07) had the biggest downward impacts.

The European Central Bank’s inflation target is 2 per cent.

If inflation stays significantly below target in the months ahead, it is likely to stoke calls for the ECB to do more. If price pressures were to continue to disappoint, the most likely options would be another cut to the benchmark main refinancing rate or negative deposit rates, which amount to a levy on banks for funds parked in the central bank’s coffers. (more…)

Subbarao fears fiscal deficit to fuel next crisis

  
Analysis, Economy, Education
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RBI GOVERNER

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Duvvuri Subbarao, expressed fear that the next financial debacle could stem from a currency crisis or from the way the government handles its ‘stimulus exit’. Speaking at the first International Research Conference organised by RBI here on Saturday, Subbarao said,

“I worry that in resolving this financial crisis, perhaps we are sowing the seeds of the next crisis. Next crisis could be a currency or a fiscal crisis.” The central banker, however, denied that RBI would back out from its commitment to full convertibility of rupee but would impart flexibility to its pre-determined course in the light of the recent global economic developments.

Participating in a panel discussion, the RBI governor said the developed economies may fail to wind down their borrowings, leading to cyclical deficits morphing into ‘structural fiscal deficits’, affecting the system as a whole. In the wake of global credit crisis, following the US sub-prime crisis in 2008, many governments and central banks pumped in huge funds and resorted to low-interest-rate monetary policies, for boosting their sagging economies. These have resulted in bloating of fiscal deficits. (more…)

IMF Seeking Boost In Lending Cap By $250 Billion To $1 Trillion

  
  Education
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In the latest sign yet that things in the world are roughly 25% worse than expected (give or take), the FT reports that the IMF will seek an imminent rise in its lending cap from $750 billion to $1 trillion to build safety nets that could prevent financial crises. “Even when not in a time of crisis, a big fund, likely to intervene massively, is something that can help prevent crises,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF managing director told the Financial Times. “Just because the financing role decreases, doesn’t mean we don’t need to have huge firepower … a $1,000bn fund is a correct forecast.” At this point it is glaringly obvious that without the explicit support of the various central banks and of such fake international but really US organizations as the IMF, the already prevalent liquidity crisis would simply destroy the world. The troubling theme is that instead of taking away incremental worries, we have now gotten to the point where one bailout, like a butterfly in China, merely requires 10 more down the road. Alas, instead of a virtuous Keynesian dynamic, this is anything but.

Some more on the IMF’s feeble attempt at justifying the need for its exploding funding requirements, as well as its own attempt to validate that all is well:

 
 

South Korea, as this year’s president of the Group of 20 leading economies, is helping craft the plan. Seoul hopes to convince the G20 countries to back the increased IMF funding at a summit in South Korea in November. The G20 meeting in London in 2009 tripled IMF resources from $250bn. A US official said Washington was sympathetic to improved safety nets but needed more details on the Korean-IMF plan.

South Korean economists forged the plan because of their own bitter experience of their currency and stock market plunging in 2008. In spite of robust economic fundamentals, Seoul needed to be rescued from a dangerous liquidity shortfall by swaps from the US, Japan and China. (more…)

German Economics Minister Confirms Fed Manipulates The FX Market

  
Analysis, Economy, Education
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The German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle has just confirmed precisely what many have known and said for years, namely that the US Federal Reserve is active in the secondary markets, in this particular case in FX. While not so much of a secret for some of the fringe players such as a the SNB, BOE and BOJ, the Fed has never had a formal statement on currency intervention, as, of course, it would have been seen as a sign of weakness (and allegedly could be considered an unconstitutional activity). And why would anybody dream of manipulating the world’s strongest currency. Of course, if Bernanke manipulates currencies, as has now been confirmed, it is more than clear that he directly buys and sells stocks in the secondary market, and/or Treasuries in the primary. We wonder what other juicy disclosure Bernanke’s trans-Atlantic CB colleagues will announce once they are cornered about their recent market manipulative conduct.

From Dow Jones:

The U.S. Federal Reserve is also active in currency markets, German Economics Minister Rainer Bruederle said Friday.

His comments come on the heels of remarks made by his Swiss counterpart who said that the Swiss National Bank purchased euros to buttress the single currency.

“It is a regular procedure of central banks,” to intervene in currency markets, Bruederle said. “It is not a secret,” that central banks have a foreign exchange rate target, he added.

Bruederle said “eruptive” movements have to be avoided. He previously said that China holds 25 percent of its foreign exchange reserves in euros.

 

Ray Dalio’s Long-Term Debt Cycle Charts

  
Analysis, Education
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The following speech was delivered by Ray Dalio of Bridgewater at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s 40th Annual Central Banking Seminar on Wednesday, October 5, 2016.

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It is both an honor and a very special opportunity for me to be able to address such a large and esteemed group of central bankers at such an interesting time for central bankers. I especially want to thank President Dudley and Vice President Schetzel for inviting me to forthrightly share my perspective as an investor and my unconventional template that I believe sheds some light on the very unconventional circumstances that we face.

It is no longer controversial to say that:

• …this isn’t a normal business cycle and we are likely in an environment of abnormally slow growth

• …the current tools of monetary policy will be a lot less effective going forward

• …the risks are asymmetric to the downside

• …investment returns will be very low going forward, and (more…)

Roubini: How to prevent a depression

  
Analysis, Education
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An eight point plan to minimise the fallout of another economic contraction.

AMSTERDAM – The latest economic data suggests that recession is returning to most advanced economies, with financial markets now reaching levels of stress unseen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The risks of an economic and financial crisis even worse than the previous one – now involving not just the private sector, but also near-insolvent sovereigns – are significant. So, what can be done to minimize the fallout of another economic contraction and prevent a deeper depression and financial meltdown?

First, we must accept that austerity measures, necessary to avoid a fiscal train wreck, have recessionary effects on output. So, if countries in the eurozone’s periphery are forced to undertake fiscal austerity, countries able to provide short-term stimulus should do so and postpone their own austerity efforts. These countries include the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the core of the eurozone, and Japan. Infrastructure banks that finance needed public infrastructure should be created as well.

Second, while monetary policy has limited impact when the problems are excessive debt and insolvency rather than illiquidity, credit easing, rather than just quantitative easing, can be helpful. The European Central Bank should reverse its mistaken decision to hike interest rates. More monetary and credit easing is also required for the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, and the Swiss National Bank. Inflation will soon be the last problem that central banks will fear, as renewed slack in goods, labor, real estate, and commodity markets feeds disinflationary pressures. (more…)

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