Archives
Even Hedge Funds Can’t Understand Today’s Manipulated Markets
August 16th, 2016
One of the big surprises of the past few years is the number of brand-name hedge funds reporting terrible results. Their customers are not amused: Hedge Funds Are Losing Endowments After Exodus of Pensions (Bloomberg) – ...
“Soon” And “Really, Really Crazy.”: Starting Up The Helicopters
July 14th, 2016
As the abject failures of the past few years’ monetary experiments became apparent, it was clear that something else would have to be tried. The only questions were when this would happen and how crazy the next iteration would ...
Can You Imagine The Fed Raising Interest Rates In This World? Europe In Chaos Edition
July 7th, 2016
Two short months ago it was generally expected that US interest rates would rise for the balance of the year — a move made possible by steady economic growth and general global stability. Here’s a representative piece ...
Something Huge Is Coming From Japan
July 4th, 2016
Pretend, for a minute, that your country responds to the bursting of a credit bubble by borrowing unprecedented amounts of money and using it to prop up banks and construction companies. This doesn’t work, so you create record amounts ...
Brexit’s Big Loser? Japan
June 30th, 2016
One of the first results of Britain’s voting to leave the European Union was a sharply lower pound. Which means the UK is now winning the currency war. Henceforth its exports will be cheaper around the world, enabling its ...
Will The European Union Just Dissolve?
June 27th, 2016
Now the real fun begins. Last night Britons voted to leave the European Union, sending shock waves around the world — though not directly or immediately threatening the concept of European integration. But what comes next emphatically does. Emboldened ...
Brexit Rules The Week
June 21st, 2016
The Brexit vote is this Thursday, so nothing else matters until then. And polls, just to make it even more stressful, have it neck and neck. See Brexit poll tracker back to even at 44-44. While we’re waiting, let’s ...
Unintended Consequences, Part 1: Easy Money = Overcapacity = Deflation
May 20th, 2016
Somewhere back in the depths of time the world got the idea that easy money — that is, low interest rates and high levels of government spending — would produce sustainable growth with modest but positive inflation. And for ...
Macy’s Crushed By Amazon, Italian Banks Crushed By Euro
May 12th, 2016
This is a tale of changing environments and the organisms that are, as a result, dying off. First, consider the bricks and mortar retailers. Amazon, the dominant online seller of virtually everything, reports a spectacular quarter with soaring sales ...
China Stops Trying To Fool The World; World Is Sorry
May 10th, 2016
Something interesting has happened. China earlier this year responded to falling stock prices by borrowing a trillion dollars and spending it on commodities, boosting the prices of iron ore, oil, copper, etc., and giving the global economy a patina ...
