Blog Archives

See and Wait

See and Wait

Not surprisingly, the Fed pulled the trigger and raised short-term interest rates by 0.25% for the first time since last December. I thought I would convey what I think are the most pertinent variables to be monitoring in the wake of the Fed tightening. I’m calling this blog post “See and Wait” as I will be showing many charts and opine on some of the ramifications but we will have to wait to see how it unfolds in the real economy.

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2020 - Coming in Hot

2020 Coming in Hot

2020 has started off with some geopolitical fireworks that have carried over to financial markets as the headline below attests.

U.S. Kill Iranian Military Leader Qassem Soleimani

This is another good example of why having a hedge with U.S. Treasuries (and maybe a little gold as well) can be helpful to provide a counterweight to risk assets that inevitably take a mild beating,

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2019 - A Year in Review

2019 Gary Year in Review

I make a concerted effort to avoid each day rolling into another without any distinction. I never want to look back on my life and have nothing stand out. I think this is one of the reasons I blog each week. It helps me reflect on my life and gives me the opportunity to bring forth those experiences,

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Newton's Third Law and Repo Madness

Fed Repo Newton's Third Law

It’s been said that markets go up like escalators and drop like elevators. There is also Newton’s Third Law which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is where the Fed comes into play when markets drop like elevators.

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Modeling A Recession

recession

Last week were engaged in our annual planning process. As part of this, we come up with key assumptions regarding the operating environment for the next three years or so. Interest rates, of course, are a huge variable in our business and dominated much of the discussion.

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Monday Motivation, Being Robotic and Interest Rates

robotic

I must admit that I was struggling to find the motivation to do this week’s post after three straight weeks of travel and a particularly busy seven days that included late-night business dinners for a number of them. Woe is me. I only bring it up because all of us face those times when we don’t want to do something and yet after we do it we inevitably feel better about having taken on the challenge.

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The Road to Zero?

road to zero percent interest

The market didn’t react very well to Jerome Powell’s characterization of Wednesday’s interest rate reduction as a “mid-cycle adjustment.” Investors took that to be a bearish easing of monetary policy. The stock market dropped, the bond market took a future interest rate reduction off of the table,

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Think Globally Act Locally

Think Globally. Act Locally

There has been some criticism of Fed chairman Powell as he has gone from saying this in early October 2018:

Jerome Powell we're a long way headline

To telegraphing this on July 10th:

Jerome Powell Signals Rate Cut

Those who are upset by his dovish turn are irked because they feel like he is kowtowing to the market and Trump who is forcing his hand despite record high stock market averages,

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Wisdom of Yogi Canseco? Japan's Negative Interest Rates

Canseco-Yen

A few very insightful tweets came out of a very unexpected place after the Bank of Japan waded into the waters of negative interest rates. It was from none other than Jose Canseco, the former home run king, wrestler, and iconoclast. This is what he had to say courtesy of Business Insider:

Jose Canseco

He is pretty much spot on in asserting that negative interest rates have a deflationary impact.

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Much Ado About LIBOR

Last week my daughter and I went to see the Improvised Shakespeare Company in Los Angeles. Wow, what a mind-blowing experience that was. It was extraordinary to see the four actors take an idea thrown out to them by the audience and turn it into a 90 minute Shakespeare play.

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