Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Thursday, November 02, 2017
Who Will Be the Next Fed Chief - And Why It Matters / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Dan_Steinbock
Janet Yellen's term is ending at the Federal Reserve. With new appointments, President Trump can indirectly shape US monetary policy for years to come - for better or worse. Serving as the “epitome of calm,” Fed chief Ben Bernanke responded to the global financial crisis by cutting the federal funds rate to zero and initiating rounds of quantitative easing (QE) soon thereafter.
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Thursday, November 02, 2017
Government Finances and Gold - Cautionary Tale told in Four Charts / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Michael_J_Kosares
“President Trump, in complete contradiction to candidate Trump, has praised Yellen for being a ‘low-interest-rate-person.’ One reason Trump may have changed his position is that, like most first-term presidents, he thinks low interest rates will help him win reelection. Trump may also realize that his welfare and warfare spending plans require an accommodative Fed to monetize the federal debt. The truth is President Trump’s embrace of status quo monetary policy could prove fatal to both his presidency and the American economy.” – Ron Paul, Institute for Peace and Prosperity
Editor’s note: This issue of our newsletter features several interactive, live charts offered in conjunction with the St. Louis Federal Reserve and the ICE Benchmark Administration/LBMA. You can access statistical details by moving your cursor over the charts. If the chart does not automatically update, please move the toggle button on the year bar all the way to the right. We invite you to bookmark this edition for future reference.
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Wednesday, November 01, 2017
QE’s Untold Story: A Chart That Fed Correspondents Need To Investigate / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: F_F_Wiley
We’ve produced some research over the years that we’d love to see the powers-that-be react to, but none more so than our look at financial flows during the QE programs.
By netting all lending by banks and broker-dealers and then comparing it to the Fed’s lending, we stumbled upon a chart that seemed to show exactly what QE does or doesn’t do. But “doesn’t,” not “does,” was the story, and it couldn’t have been clearer. Or shown a more stimulating pattern. To geeks like us, our Excel click on “Insert, Line” was like stepping from a shady trail to a sunny vista.
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Tuesday, October 31, 2017
US Debt Revelation Numbers / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Michael_Pento
The federal budget deficit widened in the fiscal year 2017 to the sixth highest on record, creating a budget shortfall of $666 billion. That is up $80 billion, or 14%, from the fiscal year 2016. The overspend resulted primarily from an increase in spending for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as well as higher interest payments on the debt due to rising rates that drove up outlays to $4 trillion, which was 3% higher than the previous fiscal year.Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, October 28, 2017
Markets Big Macro Play Ahead / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Gary_Tanashian
At NFTRH, we are about major macro turning points above all else. Of course, it is often years between these turning points or points of significant change so we are also about the here and now, and managing the trends, Old Turkey style.*
Since we are all learning all the time, I have no problem admitting to you that while right and bullish on commodities and stocks in 2009, after becoming bullish on the precious metals in Q4 2008, I completely ignored Old Turkey due to my inner biases. The result has been that after taking excellent profits from the precious metals bull, personally, I have greatly under performed the stock market bull despite holding a bullish analytical view for the majority of the post-2012 period.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Trump May Reappoint Yellen as Fed Chair after All / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: MoneyMetals
By Clint Siegner: Candidate Donald Trump was none too kind to current Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen during his 2016 campaign. However, the President’s tone with regards to Yellen and Fed policy has been softening since his election.Trump met one on one with Yellen and other top contenders last week and now appears quite open to the idea of reappointing her to another four-year term.
Saturday, October 21, 2017
“Great Rotation” Ahead; Will it Be Inflationary or Deflationary? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Gary_Tanashian
[edit] This article ultimately leans toward the view that the reasons for a rising curve will be inflationary. But I woke up in the middle of the night and my thoughts drifted to the components of the article (yeah, that’s pretty sad, I know), and with further consideration I am leaning toward neutral or even a bit into the deflationary camp. The reasons will be the stuff of another article.
Think back to the blaring headlines about the Great Promotion Rotation in the financial media in 2013. Perhaps the media circus started in January of that year when The Economist asked the question of whether the rise in bond yields signaled a “flight” out bonds and into equities. It was probably an earnest and right minded question asked by The Economist, but you know our friends in the greater financial media; get a good story and flog the hell out of it to harvest eyeballs. Reality be damned, man, it’s the eyeballs that matter!
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
History Says Global Debt Levels Will Lead to Another Crisis / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2017
By: GoldSilver
Jeff Clark : It may feel like we’ll escape a debt crisis since, well, the world hasn’t ended in spite of runaway debt levels. Some of us hard money people feel like we’re taking crazy pills; how the heck can debt be so out of control, so completely unpayable, and yet the financial system keeps chugging along as if nothing’s wrong?
Well, history has a message for us: the current calm won’t last forever, because there is a direct link between government debt levels and the number of financial crises that occur. And since global debt levels are high—the second highest level in the past 150 years—it’s not exactly a stretch to conclude that another financial crisis is coming.
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Tuesday, October 17, 2017
What Happens When the Fed FINALLY Reduces Its $4.5 Trillion Balance Sheet? / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: EWI
So, there we have it. Deflation has started.
The Federal Reserve announced last month that they would start to reduce their $4.5 trillion balance sheet in October, thereby starting the process we call Quantitative Tightening (QT). As expected, they are aiming to do it gently and quietly, by not reinvesting bonds as they mature, starting with sums of around $6 billion of Treasuries and $4 billion in Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS). The scale of non-reinvestment will gradually increase. Once in full swing, the Fed's balance sheet could reduce by up to $150 billion each quarter.
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Monday, October 16, 2017
Who Will Be the Next Fed Chief - And Why It Matters / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Dan_Steinbock
Janet Yellen's term is ending at the Federal Reserve. With new appointments, President Trump can indirectly shape US monetary policy for years to come - for better or worse. Serving as the “epitome of calm,” Fed chief Ben Bernanke responded to the global financial crisis by cutting the federal funds rate to zero and initiating rounds of quantitative easing (QE) soon thereafter.
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Sunday, October 15, 2017
How to Wipe Out Puerto Rico's Debt Without Hurting Bondholders / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2017
By: Ellen_Brown
During his visit to hurricane-stricken Puerto Rico, President Donald Trump shocked the bond market when he told Geraldo Rivera of Fox News that he was going to wipe out the island's bond debt. He said on October 3rd:
Read full article... Read full article...You know they owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street. We're gonna have to wipe that out. That's gonna have to be -- you know, you can say goodbye to that. I don't know if it's Goldman Sachs but whoever it is, you can wave good-bye to that.
Friday, October 13, 2017
It Would Take A 50% Hike in Income Tax to Fund Current US Budget Deficit / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: John_Mauldin
The projected total US debt will be $30 trillion within 10 years, using the CBO’s own numbers. But the CBO also makes the rosy assumptions that there will be no recessions and that GDP will grow at a 4% nominal rate.
Now, that’s possible; I'm inclined to haircut it a bit.
If you asked me to bet the “over/under” on the debt in 2027, I would bet the over at $35 trillion.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2017
The Profoundly Personal Impact Of The National Debt On Our Retirements / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Dan_Amerman
In this analysis we will take a look at something deeply personal – which is how the $20 trillion United States national debt may change the day-to-day quality of life for savers and retirees in the decades ahead. That is likely a somewhat unusual perspective for many savers and investors.
On the one hand, we have what are often thought of as abstract economic concepts - such as how large will the national debt be in 10 or 20 years? How will Federal Reserve actions to increase interest rates change future government deficits and debts?
On the other hand, we have something that is typically presented as being entirely different, which is individual financial planning. What are the savings and investment choices that we need to make today that will help determine what our standard of living may be in retirement 10, 20 or 30 years from now?
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Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Six-month Surge in One Year Fixed Interest Rates / Interest-Rates / UK Interest Rates
By: MoneyFacts
The recovery in the savings market over the past six months has caused the average one-year fixed bond rate to surpass the average return that was available on a two-year fixed bond back in April 2017, according to the latest research by moneyfacts.co.uk.
Today, the average return on a one-year fixed bond has hit 1.14%, a marked increase from April, when the average one-year bond paid less than 1%. At the same time, the average two-year bond paid 1.13%, below the one-year average of today.
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Monday, October 09, 2017
UK Base Rate Speculation Causes Fixed Interest Rates to Rise / Interest-Rates / UK Interest Rates
By: MoneyFacts
Moneyfacts UK Mortgage Trends Treasury Report data, not yet published, highlights that as SWAP rates have seen a steep increase due to base rate speculation, the average two-year fixed rate mortgage is also starting to rise.
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Friday, October 06, 2017
Stunning U.S. Government Debt Increase In Past Few Days…. While No One Noticed / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: Steve_St_Angelo
As the stock market continues to rise on the back of some of the worst geopolitical, financial, and domestic news, the U.S. Treasury has been quietly increasing the amount of government debt, with virtually no coverage by the Mainstream or Alternative Media. So, how much has the U.S. debt increased in the past few days? A bunch.
The surge in U.S. debt that took place over the past two days all started when the debt ceiling limit was officially allowed to increase on Sept 8th. In just one day, the U.S. Treasury increased the public debt by $318 billion:
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Monday, October 02, 2017
The Fed Knew QE Wouldn’t Work From The Start / Interest-Rates / Quantitative Easing
By: John_Mauldin
When is a mystery not a mystery? When Janet Yellen is puzzling over a lack of inflation, that’s when. So says Brian Wesbury, chief economist, and Robert Stein, deputy chief economist of First Trust, in the following essay (featured in my Outside the Box).
The bottom line: QE didn’t work—and Janet knew it was unlikely to work—from the start.
So where did all that easy money go? I think I’ll let the authors tell you. I think you’ll enjoy this brief, clear-headed essay.
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Saturday, September 30, 2017
Kevin Warsh May Be the Next Fed Head—Let’s See What He Really Thinks / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: F_F_Wiley
As reported earlier this morning by the Wall Street Journal, President Trump and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin met with Kevin Warsh yesterday to discuss the potential vacancy at the Fed next February.
Warsh already has central banking experience, having sat on the Federal Open Market Committee as a Fed governor from February 2006 until March 2011.
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Saturday, September 23, 2017
Calling the UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury Bonds Low ... Where Is Yield Heading Next? / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Mike_Paulenoff
Calling the UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury Bonds Low ... Where Is Yield Heading Next?
On September 6, with the ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (TBT) reaching a new low (33.32) in its 7-month corrective process, we noted that "Dec-Sep correction could be at or nearing a downside exhaustion."
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Saturday, September 23, 2017
How Will We Be Affected by a Series of Rate Hikes? / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Boris_Dzhingarov
The current federal funds rate is 1.00% – 1.25%. The Fed started raising interest rates in December 2015, when they were at a historic low of 0.25%. Since then, 4 rate hikes have been implemented, each valued at 25-basis points. Today, the federal funds rate (FFR) is inching towards the 1.25% – 1.50% level. The average interest rate in the US between 1971 and 2017 was 5.77%. It peaked at 20% in 1980 and dropped to an all-time low of 0.25% after the global financial crisis of 2008. Interest rates are especially important when it comes to monetary policy.