The lack of trust in the custodians of fiat money has provided a fertile context for the rise of Bitcoin, the ultimate digital alternative store of value as against mainstream, central bank managed currencies like the US dollar, sterling and the euro.
Ever since advanced market central banks began rolling the printing presses, the warnings from various quarters foretelling the implosion of fiat currencies have been getting louder and louder.
Read what @johngapper write in @ft Bitcoin is being forced to grow up fast. The arrest last week on money laundering charges of Charlie Shrem, a leading Bitcoin champion, coincided with a regulatory hearing in New York to consider what on earth it is – a virtual currency, speculative asset or…
Here’s what to look for from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole,Wyoming, which runs Aug. 21-23. -- Yellen’s keynote: The highlight will be Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech Aug. 22 on labor markets at 10 a.m. New York time. She’ll probably reiterate the Fed’s view…
Tags: fed, bank, market, euro, policy, dollar, ecb, central
The European Central Bank announced some measures to ease monetary policy two weeks ago. The euro had been on a downtrend since May and by these measures the ECB increased its support to the economy. The result? Two weeks later, EUR/USD stabilized just above 1.35. This week’s Eurozone economic calendar…
Very low inflation poses a mounting threat to the economic stability of the eurozone. The rate of consumer price inflation has been below 1 per cent since October, and hence far below the European Central Bank’s (ECB) target of just below 2 per cent. This highlights the degree of weakness…
The world’s major currencies, which had traded in a relatively stable range, are now in motion -- buffeted by different regional growth and interest rates as well as a simmering brew of geopolitical tensions. Differences are particularly noticeable between the U.S. and Europe, and how far apart currencies in those…
Tags: monetary, currencies, euro, dollar, policy, ecb, gard, interest, bank, central
Before the weak employent report of the 10 Jan 2014, traders expected the fed funds rate to average 0.45% in June 2015. That estimate is based on price movements in the June 2015 fed funds futures contract. Put another way, traders saw a high probability that the Fed would start a rate hike campaign by mid-2015. Now the expected fed funds rate in June 2015 is 0.265%, meaning a low probability of a Fed rate hike by then. This is an especially dramatic shift from last September, when the expected fed funds rate in June 2015 was 0.92%, which meant futures traders thought the Fed would already be a few rounds into a rate hike campaign by mid-2015.
Remember FED officials have been hammering home the message that “tapering isn’t tightening.”
There was a lot of uncertainty and debate last summer and fall over whether President Obama would appoint Janet Yellen or Larry Summers as Federal Reserve chair. What wasn’t really up in the air was whether the new head of the world’s most powerful central bank would have a doctorate in economics.…
Prior to the Fed's monetary stimulus at the start of financial crisis in 2008, the Fed held around $900 billion assets. Today the Fed's assets are $4.1 trillion and rising, but at a tapering pace.
U.S. Treasury yields and other interest rates increased in the months leading up to the Federal Reserve’s December 2013 decision to cut back its large-scale bond purchases. This increase in rates probably at least partly reflected changes in what bond investors expected regarding future monetary policy. Recent research on this…
The Feds revised their interest rate forecasts late last month hoping to normalize them faster than many market watchers would have anticipated. The new forecasts are higher, the projections having being raised for 2015-2016. This is a good move for extremely low rates can negatively affect the job hunt and…
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Wednesday said interest-rate increases could begin in the first half of 2015, around six months after it winds down its bond-buying program. The Fed, in its policy statement, said the benchmark federal-funds rate will remain near zero for a "considerable time" after its signature…
Prior to the Fed’s monetary stimulus at the start of financial crisis in 2008, the Fed held around $900 billion assets. Today the Fed’s assets are $4.1 trillion and rising, but at a tapering pace.
This past week marked the annual gathering of bankers, financial officials, and other economic experts hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. On Friday, Fed Chair Janet Yellen and European Central Bank head Mario Draghi both spoke; in a slow week for the markets, these…
Here’s what to look for when Janet Yellen testifies before the House Financial Services Committee today in her first public remarks since becoming Federal Reserve chairman on Feb. 3. Yellen’s prepared remarks will be released at 8:30 a.m., and the hearing will begin at 10 a.m. Yellen plans to speak…
U.S. Treasury yields and other interest rates increased in the months leading up to the Federal Reserve’s December 2013 decision to cut back its large-scale bond purchases. This increase in rates probably at least partly reflected changes in what bond investors expected regarding future monetary policy. Recent research on this…
Fed Chair Janet Yellen's first testimony before Congress is the big event for markets in the week ahead, as traders sift through economic data to see if the softness that showed up in January's jobs is more about bad weather, or something more worrisome. Yellen, who took the helm at…
The Feds revised their interest rate forecasts late last month hoping to normalize them faster than many market watchers would have anticipated. The new forecasts are higher, the projections having being raised for 2015-2016. This is a good move for extremely low rates can negatively affect the job hunt and…
