The Fed was laughing all the way into the crisis. When the crisis hit in 2008 and things got serious, laughs at the FOMC meetings all but disappeared. ... Read More
The Fed will increase the monthly total of proceeds withheld from reinvestment to $24 billion this month. August will mark the end of reliable monthly reinvestment as purchases become a quarterly event. ... Read More
More eyes than usual will be watching Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz this afternoon. After signaling a July rate hike, a series of economic misses, persistent infrastructure challenges and trade tensions have left the Bank's scope to tighten policy in doubt. ... Read More
The Fed has broken away from other western central banks, taking a hawkish path toward two more rate hikes in 2018. The ECB delivered on an end to asset purchases but was forced to acknowledge weakening growth with a forward guidance commitment. The Bank of England still has an opportunity to separate itself from the ECB, and we see potential for widening in the spread between U.K. and German 10-year yields.... Read More
Yesterday the Fed raised interest on excess reserves by 20 basis points in an effort to bring the target rate back to the middle of their range. While this does not pose any immediate problems, it highlights the fact that the Fed has entered uncharted territory. Their understanding of these types of quirks will be critical to policy.... Read More
Yesterday's FOMC statement was one of the most straightforward in a long time.... Read More
The federal funds rate has veered toward the upper end of the Fed's target range. The FOMC is thinking of raising interest on excess reserves by 20 basis points to give the illusion they are in control and everything is behaving according to plan.... Read More
The Eurozone growth picture is getting uglier. The sharp drop in economic growth will test the will of ECB officials hoping to calmly declare an end to asset purchases next week.... Read More
Persistent infrastructure struggles and weakness in housing may delay the Bank of Canada's next rate hike. ... Read More
Central bank balance sheets continue to shrink, but a large degree of this can be explained by the stronger dollar.... Read More
At each step in the Fed's normalization process, 60% of the reduction was to come via Treasuries and the other 40% via MBS. To date, the Fed is $50 billion short of their stated goal.... Read More
Both Bullard and Williams hint that the Fed's Summary of Economic Projections may eventually be discontinued.... Read More
Central bank balance sheets are now large enough to own roughly one third of all bonds in the Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index.... Read More
The current tightening cycle has reached 462.5 bps, the largest on record since 1980. In other words, Powell et al may be facing a very mature hiking cycle. ... Read More
Uncertainty over central bank tightening policies is finally hinting at a rise after shifting significantly lower since early 2017. We find news trends for "uncertainty" are nearing a key threshold historically synonymous with higher global financial stress. ... Read More
Jim Bianco offered his opinion on the FOMC decision on Bloomberg TV.... Read More
The Fed's statements continue to get shorter and easier to understand.... Read More
Traders know this is a non-presser meeting, but the fact that the odds of a hike are still 35% show many believe a hike would be prudent. We wouldn't go so far as expecting a hike, but if the Fed ever wanted to make a move at a non-presser meeting, the markets may be giving them enough leeway to do so.... Read More
The Fed is projecting six more rate hikes by the end of 2019. Risk markets are afraid this will lead to a repeat of the oldest story in finance - too many hikes will invert the curve and cause a recession. There will be opportunities for the Fed to moderate this stance, but so far they have shown no interest in backing down.... Read More
Expectations have been creeping higher for Fed hikes, but don't read too much into it just yet.... Read More